ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Elmira College women's volleyball team suffered a three-set defeat [25-11, 25-19, 25-23] at the hands of St. John Fisher College on Friday night. However, with Nazareth College defeating Hartwick College, the Elmira women have clinched an Empire 8 Conference postseason berth for the first time since 2015 despite the loss.
The Soaring Eagles (11-13, 4-2 E8) will look to seal the third seed in the conference tournament tomorrow when they face Nazareth College, while the Cardinals (19-8, 6-0 E8) clinched the E8 regular season title and hosting rights throughout the Empire 8 Conference Championships as the No. 1 overall seed.
Fisher got off to a hot start in tonight's match, hitting at a 50% clip in the opening set (13k-0e-26ta), while the Elmira women were held to a negative 5.9 attack percentage. Overall, the Cardinals connected on 25% of their attempts on the night and the Soaring Eagles finished with a 2.1% success rate.
Fisher's Lauren Gilbert led all players with 14 kills, while Lindsey DeBonis and Alea Steigerwald logged nine apiece. For Elmira,
Lydia Milligan '21 and
Lauren Smith '21 paced the Purple and Gold with five kills each.
Kassi Hastings '21 dished out 19 assists for the Soaring Eagles, while Milligan and
Savannah Terry '21 each produced three service aces, a mark that tied for the match high. Defensively, senior libero
Cassie Potter '20 amassed 12 digs, which also tied for the match high.
News and Notes
- The Soaring Eagles qualified for the Empire 8 Conference Championships with Hartwick's loss to Nazareth.
- Elmira remains in the hunt for the No. 3 seed in the 2019 Empire 8 Conference Championships.
- A win over Nazareth tomorrow would solidify the No. 3 seed for the Soaring Eagles.
- Elmira's five-match win streak came to an end.
- Potter produced her 11th double-digit dig effort of the 2019 campaign.
Up Next
The Elmira women will look to clinch the third seed in the E8 Championships tomorrow evening, when they travel back to the Flower City to take on Nazareth. The opening serve is slated for 6:00 p.m.