BRADFORD, Pa. – The Elmira College Women's Volleyball team dropped its Wednesday evening match in heartbreaking fashion to the Panthers from Pitt-Bradford, 3-2. After falling behind 2-0 in the early-going, the Soaring Eagles marched back to take the next two sets before falling 16-14 in the fifth set finale.
Samantha Garry '25 paced the Soaring Eagles with 12 kills and a pair of blocks, while
Asia Curkendall '25 (22 assists) and
Gianna Pezzino '23 (15 digs) rounded out the stat leaders.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORES: Elmira 2, Pitt-Bradford 3
LOCATION: Bradford, Pa. | KOA Arena
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira: 2-2 (0-0 Empire 8), Pitt-Bradford: 1-4 (0-0 AMCC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Panthers took advantage of a -.300 Soaring Eagle attacking percentage in the first set by hitting .263% of their own on their way to a 25-10 first-set victory. In the set, the Panthers recorded its highest hitting percentage in a set.
In the second, the Soaring Eagles and Panthers battled to a 22-22 tie late in the set before a pair of kills from PBU outside hitter Darby Deniston sealed the set for the home team and pushed the lead to 2-0.
Battling from behind, the Purple & Gold would put together a 25-18 third set victory to pull within one set. With 10 kills in the frame, the Soaring Eagles hit .261%. With the score tied 10-10, Elmira would finish the set on a 15-8 run.
In the fourth, Elmira would reach a match-best 15 kills in route to a 25-15 set win, evening the match at 2-2. The Soaring Eagles would score the last four points of the set with MaKenna Clark '25 at the service position, which included a kill from
Calli Vocke '23, and a pair of errors from the Panthers.
In the 5
th, 15 points would not be enough to declare a winner as the match was pushed to extra points. With the set tied at 10-10, each team would battle for points before Ruby Smith and Olivia Reese recorded kills to end the set, as Pitt-Bradford took the match 3-2.
UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles return to the court with four games this weekend, beginning with a trip to SUNY Canton on Friday afternoon to play the Roos at 3:00 PM.
