| Elmira vs. Morrisville State |
| Game Details |
Tuesday, Sept. 12 | Elmira, N.Y. | 6 p.m. |
Game Coverage
vs. Morrisville State |
Live Video: Video Link
Live Stats: Stats Link |
| Morrisville State Links |
Roster | Schedule | Stats |
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College women's volleyball team welcomes Morrisville State to Speidel Gymnasium on Tuesday, September 12, in search of its fourth consecutive victory. The non-league action is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
The Soaring Eagles went a perfect 3-0 against non-conference opposition at the Elmira College Quad-Match on Friday and Saturday, September 8-9. EC started the busy weekend off with a straight-set victory over SUNY Delhi on Friday. The Purple and Gold's offense was humming at Speidel Gymnasium, as they out-hit the Broncos .250-to-.000. The Soaring Eagles kept the momentum going in their next match of the tournament, as they earned another 3-0 win over Alfred State College on Saturday morning. The junior duo of
Natalie Schieder '19 and
Taylor Kaznowski '19 helped guide EC to its second consecutive triumph, as the former posted her second double-double of the young season (11k, 11d) and the latter dished out a whopping 30 assists in just three sets. In the final bout of the quad-match, Elmira bested visiting foe, Cazenovia College, in straight sets, giving the team a 3-1 record to start the 2017 campaign.
SCHIEDER SHINES BRIGHT
The junior outside hitter, Schieder, has hit the ground running in her penultimate season donning the Purple and Gold. The Alden, New York, native paces the team in kills (43), digs (42) and hitting percentage (.343) through the first four matches of the season. In the Empire 8 Conference, Schieder ranks second in both hitting percentage (.343) and kills per set (3.58), in addition to having the seventh-highest digs per set average (3.5).
NEW FACES
In Elmira's three wins over the weekend, the team received some much-needed production from some unfamiliar sources. Leading the way was the freshman pair of
Lauren Smith '21 and
Savannah Terry '21. Smith appeared in all three matches during the quad-match and finished second in the team with 21 combined kills. Terry also played in all three contests and tallied 15 kills and three blocks across the two days. With three stuffs over the weekend, the Owego, New York, native took sole possession of first place on the EC blocks leaderboard. Fellow rookie
Kassi Hastings '21 also made a splash at the quad-match, as she recorded a match-high six services aces in the triumph over Cazenovia.
HOME COOKING
The Purple and Gold have not started a season with a 3-0 record at home since the 2015 campaign, when they reeled off four-straight wins at Speidel Gymnasium. Dating back to 2011, every season that Elmira has started 3-0 at home it has finished with a home record above .500. Also during that time span, every time the Soaring Eagles began the year 3-0 at Speidel Gymnasium they went on to win their fourth home contest as well.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Morrisville State enters tomorrow's matchup with a 5-1 record and is riding a season-long three-match win streak. The Mustangs' most recent result was a straight-set defeat of Misericordia University on Saturday, September 9. This strong start to the season continues a recent upswing for the Morrisville women's volleyball program, as the team is coming off of a program-record 21-win season in 2016. The Mustangs' offense is led by 2016 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) All-Conference honorees Helena Hanes and Megyan Merrill. Merrill, a 5-foot-9-inch outside hitter, paces the conference in kills per set (4.00) and ranks second in hitting percentage (.358), only trailing Hanes's conference-best .387 clip. Speaking of Hanes, the 5-foot-9-inch setter's team-leading 4.94 assists per set average ranks sixth in the conference. On the defensive end of the court, sophomore defensive specialist Samantha Wolf has continued the impressive start to her collegiate career, as the reigning NEAC Defensive Player of the Year has tallied a team-high 4.29 digs per set in the team's first six matches, a mark that ranks 11th on the conference leaderboard.
SERIES HISTORY VS. MORRISVILLE
EC enters tomorrow's contest riding a two-match win streak over Morrisville and owns a 3-1 record in the all-time series. The most recent result in the series was a 3-1 Elmira win on September 11, 2015, at Speidel Gymnasium. Schieder had one of her best performances of her freshman campaign against the Mustangs on that date, as she recorded match highs in digs (20) and kills (15), which went down as the first double-double of her collegiate career.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Soaring Eagles return to action on Friday, September 15, with a pair of matches at the Oswego State Invitational in Oswego, New York. EC opens up the day with a 5:00 p.m. bout against SUNY Canton before wrapping up the night with a 7:00 p.m. showdown against Bard College.
