ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY (October 17, 2015) – The Vassar College women's volleyball team came into Saturday looking to increase their chances in participating in the Liberty League Tournament later this month, but two conference losses to Union College and Rochester Institute of Technology eliminated VC from postseason contention. Vassar fell to Union with scores of 26-24, 25-22 and 25-23, while dropping a three-set match with RIT 25-23, 25-20 and 25-19.
The Brewers are now 11-11 and 5-7 in the Liberty League, but three teams have six conference wins and the other squad with five wins, St. Lawrence University, earned two victories against VC to hold the tiebreaker for the potential final spot in the tournament as Vassar is done with its conference schedule.
Union 3, Vassar 0In the first match of the day, the Brewers battled all contest with the Dutchwomen, but Union was able to earn the match and push its win streak to 11. The highlight of the match for the Brewers was the play from freshman hitter
Devan Gallagher (San Francisco, CA/Urban School of San Francisco), who chalked up a career-high 17 kills to lead VC.
In the opening set, Vassar trailed 17-13 but posted three straight points to cut its deficit to one after an ace by sophomore
Bria Corham (Kansas City, MO/Montville Township). UC (22-4, 6-2 Liberty) led 23-20 late in the set but VC scored three consecutive points, two coming off the hand of sophomore
Alex Sams (Los Angeles, CA/Beverly Hills), to deadlock the set at 23.
The two teams exchanged points, but Union was able to secure the final two points of the set to take a 1-0 match lead. The second set saw Vassar take an early lead, with Union's head coach earning a red card early in the game, which gave VC a point. The Brewers led all game, taking a 20-18 edge after a kill by Gallagher. Union posted a 6-1 run over the next seven points to take control of the set, taking a two-set lead.
In the final game of the match, the Brewers trailed at 13-12 but tallied four consecutive points, two on terminations from Gallagher, to hold a 16-13 advantage. The Brewers were up 19-16 late, but Union again was able to put together a late charge, tallying a 6-2 run to take a 22-21 edge. Vassar was unable regain the lead, as Morgan Clark and Kelley White clinched the match for the Dutchwomen with a block.
Gallagher added three blocks to her match-best kill total, while junior
Gabby Miller (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon) posted another double-digit termination total with 10 kills. Miller also had seven digs and three aces, and freshman setter
Annie MacMillan (Colorado Springs, CO/Coronado) added 28 assists, nine digs and two blocks.
Senior libero
Chloe Hallum (Olympia, WA/Olympia) finished with 20 defensive ups as well, as she registered her 11
th straight match with at-least 10 digs. Hallum also registered her fourth 20-dig match of the season, and the 37
th over her amazing career at VC.
RIT 3, Vassar 0Rochester Institute of Technology served well, to the tune of 12 aces against VC, and the Brewers were unable to overcome that in dropping their second match of the day. RIT (17-12, 6-2 Liberty) had a balanced attack, as three players had eight or more kills on the day.
The opening stanza saw the two team exchange leads multiple times, with VC leading 16-14 after a kill from Miller. RIT went on a 5-0 run after that kill from Vassar to take a 19-16 edge, but Vassar battled its way back into the match to tie the score at 20, 21 and 23. With the set deadlocked at 23, the Tigers got a kill from Kayla Wheeler and an error from VC to pick up the first set.
RIT roared out to a 9-4 lead in the middle set, but the Brewers didn't go away, forcing their way back into a 16-16 tie after back-to-back kills from Gallagher and Corham. RIT chalked up seven of the next nine points though, clinching the set on an ace by Anna Valentine.
The final game again was decided by one long run by the Tigers, as RIT turned a 5-5 set into a 17-9 lead after a 13-4 run, as Vassar got as close as four twice but could pull no closer. Miller posted a double-double for VC, going for 11 kills and 10 digs in the loss. Hallum added 10 digs, and Gallagher posted 11 kills and two assisted blocks.
Corham finished with eight balls pounded down for Vassar, and
Paige Benson (Elk Grove, CA/Bradshaw Christian School) added five digs as well for the Brewers.
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Vassar will travel north to Troy, NY on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. to take on The Sage Colleges in non-conference play.
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