Elmira College (5-1, 0-1 Empire 8)
College of New Rochelle (6-3, 0-1 HVIAC) | Saturday, September 19, 2015 | 11:00 A.M.
Plattsburgh State (5-4, 0-0 SUNYAC) | Saturday, September 19, 2015 | 1:00 P.M.
Wellness Center  Gymnasium – New Rochelle, NY
 
Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's volleyball team is coming off a heartbreaking loss in their Empire 8 Conference opener, however, the Soaring Eagles will be looking to get back to their winning ways this weekend at the New Rochelle Tri-Match.  Elmira opens play against the College of New Rochelle on Saturday, September 19th, at 11:00 a.m. before taking on Plattsburgh State two hours later at 1:00 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
Elmira opened Empire 8 Conference play at home on Tuesday, September 15th, against neighboring Ithaca College.  The Soaring Eagles took the first set 25-20 and held a sizeable lead in the second set, however, the Bombers of Ithaca would rally to win the second set.  From there, Ithaca's momentum carried over into the third and fourth sets, as the Bombers claimed a 3-sets-to-1 victory over the Purple and Gold. 
 
Schieder Stays Hot
Despite Elmira's .104 team hitting percentage against Ithaca, rookie Natalie Schieder '19 continued to impress as she put away a match-high 17 kills on a 17-3-40 stat line (.350).  The first-year outside hitter has compiled five consecutive double-digit kill efforts, with Tuesday's 17 kills setting a new season-high for the Alden, NY native.  She has led the Soaring Eagles in kills in five of EC's six matches.
 
Season-High Blocks
The Soaring Eagles produced a season-high 14 total blocks, 12 assisted and two solo, in Tuesday's contest against the Bombers.  Leading the defensive efforts for Elmira was Kelsey Ray '17 and Ashley Heiman '16, who combined for 11 blocks.  Ray finished with a match-high six blocks, five assisted and one solo block, while Heiman produced five blocks on one solo and four assisted.
 
Magic Number 40
Including the 2014 season, Elmira has seen a great deal of success when registering 40 or more kills as a team.  Elmira is 11-4 in matches when the Soaring Eagles have totaled 40 or more kills and on the flip side, EC is 1-19 when they have finished with less than 40 kills. 
 
Scouting New Rochelle
The Blue Angels of New Rochelle enter Saturday's tri-match with a 6-3 record and are riding-high on a two-match win streak with victories over Farmingdale State College and Albertus Magnus College.  New Rochelle has played three of their season's nine matches at home, posting a 3-0 record in those contests while dropping just 1-of-10 sets played.  Fabiola Padilla Rios is New Rochelle's biggest aerial threat, as she owns the team-lead in kills (66) and has the highest kills per set average (2.64) of any player with 50 or more attempts.  Defensively, Padillo Rios and Tiany Perez Diaz spearhead the efforts on ground, as the two have combined for 154 digs on the season. 

Scouting Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh will be looking to put an end to a two-game skid, as the Cardinals enter the weekend with a 5-4 overall record.  Of Plattsburgh's wins, three have taken place at home while the other two have occurred at neutral sites.  The Cardinals will be looking to get their offense back on track after posting .022 and .066 team hitting percentages in their last two matches.  If Plattsburgh is going to do so, they will need to see an improvement from their top hitters Sam Colombo and Izzy Ruff, who lead the squad with 54 and 52 kills, respectively.  However, the duo has not been as economical as Plattsburgh has needed them to be as of late, with Colombo posting back-to-back sub-.000 hitting percentages while Ruff has hit .111 in Plattsburgh's last two outings. 
 
Up Next
Following this weekend's matches, Elmira will return to action this Wednesday, September 23rd, as the Soaring Eagles host Alfred State for a non-conference matchup.  The first serve is set for 6:00 p.m. at Elmira's Speidel Gymnasium.