ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College women's volleyball team travels to Houghton, New York, eyeing victories against a pair of the teams that currently occupy two of the top-four spots in the Empire 8 Conference standings. EC will face off against Stevens Institute of Technology and Houghton College in a conference tri-match, beginning with a 1:30 p.m. contest versus the Ducks.

LAST TIME OUT: The Soaring Eagles played two at the Canton Classic, hosted by SUNY Canton, on October 1st. In the opener against the Kangaroos, the Elmira women recovered from an 0-2 deficit to push the hosts to five sets. EC took the third set with ease, 25-14, before eking out a 25-23 fourth-set win. However, the Roos responded with a strong fifth set, as they killed 12 balls with committing an offensive error to seal the match. In the nightcap, the Soaring Eagles fell to St. Lawrence University in straight sets. Taylor Kaznowski '19 was named to the All-Tournament Team after posting a combined 73 assists, 23 digs, and four aces.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS: Coming off of a strong performance at the Canton Classic, which earned the second-year setter a spot on the All-Tournament Team, Kaznowski will likely climb the all-time assist list this weekend. She became just the 10th player in program history to earn her 1,000th career assist earlier this season. With 1,102 assists, Kaznowski needs 20 more to surpass Amanda Weaver '10 for ninth-place all-time.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. HOUGHTON: EC will look to even the all-time series with Houghton this weekend. The Highlanders hold a slight 16-15-1 advantage in the series; interestingly, the lone tie of the series came in the 1981 season. In the 2015 edition of the rivalry, the Purple and Gold swept Houghton in three sets on October 24th to clinch the fourth seed in the E8 Tournament.

SCOUTING HOUGHTON: The Highlanders enter Saturday's doubleheader with an even .500 overall record at 8-8. Houghton's most recent match was a straight-sets loss to conference foe St. John Fisher at home, which lowered the Highlanders' E8 mark to 2-2. Although Houghton ranks fourth in the conference in hitting percentage (.169), it sits in the bottom half in opponent's hitting percentage with an identical rate while giving up a conference-worst 11.54 kills per set. Naomi Prentice has been a force in the middle on offense, as the junior from Linwood, New York, ranks sixth in the E8 in hitting percentage at .282 and eighth in kills with 2.95 per set. In the six matches prior to the Fisher loss, Prentice went on a tear, registering double-digit kills in each match while hitting no worse than .296.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. STEVENS: The Soaring Eagles and Ducks have met at least once in every season since 2007, with Stevens emerging victorious nine times out of 12 matchups. Since toughing out a five-set win on October 5, 2012, Elmira has not been able to take a set from its conference rival in four matches, including last season's E8 Conference Tournament Semifinals in Hoboken, New Jersey.

SCOUTING STEVENS: The Ducks look determine to erase the memory of their loss to Ithaca College in last year's E8 Championship Tournament on their home court. Stevens is undefeated in league play at 4-0 and boasts the best overall record in the conference at 19-2. The Hoboken, New Jersey, hitters own the best hitting percentage among the nine members of the Empire 8 at .248, which is .057-points higher than the next closest team. The defense has been just as sharp, as the Ducks have limited opponents to a league-low .102 hitting percentage. The only two Stevens losses have been to defending national champion, Cal Lutheran, and a five-set heartbreaker against Union College. Reigning E8 Player of the Year Mary Tobin in her senior season. She's a three-time E8 All-Conference First Teamer and began the year as the program's fourth all-time leader in career kills.

UP NEXT: Elmira continues its conference slate with a home match at Speidel Gymnasium against the Saxons of Alfred University on Wednesday, October 14th, at 6:00 p.m.