POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - Despite an outstanding third set effort, the Vassar College women's volleyball team was unable to overcome the deficit, falling to Ithaca College, 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-23) in the Liberty League regular season finale for both teams. The Bombers move to 14-10 and 6-1 in league play, while the Brewers are now 6-10 with a 2-5 Liberty League mark.
Pacing Ithaca was Jaelyn Hershberger, who had nine kills with seven digs, a service ace and an assist. Camryn O'Leary added eight kills with four digs, while Paris Buckner posted seven kills, a service ace, six block assists and two digs. Jamie Koopman paced all players with eight block assists, adding eight kills. Peyton Miller and Laura Severance had 18 and 11 assists, respectively.
For Vassar,
Sara Ehnstrom paced all players in the contest with 10 kills. She also added 11 digs and had a block assist.
Morgan Miller added nine kills, a service ace and six digs, while
Hailey Hayes had nine kills, three block assists and three digs.
Madison Wilson led all players with 31 assists, she also added a block assist with seven digs.
Ava Casalino and
Julia Hale also laid down several blocks, each contributing three and two block assists, respectively.
Opening set action saw a back-and-forth battle at the start as a kill from Hale tied the score at 8-all. That gap widened as multiple errors by the Brewers turned it into a 15-11 advantage for the visitors. Vassar battled back, taking a 22-17 deficit and turning it into a 22-20 score as the Brewers captialized on three straight errors, but Ithaca rattled off three straight points for the 25-20 set win.
Second set once again saw a tight battle as a service ace from junior
Kaitlin Birnbaum made it a 9-8 score in favor of Ithaca. The Bombers took advantage of a setting error and an O'Leary kill to move ahead, but continued to open a wider margin to 15-12. A pair of Ehnstrom kills helped make it a 21-18 score, but once again, the Bombers took advantage of late errors and saw Severance lay down an ace for the 25-18 decision and a 2-0 match lead.
In the third set, the Brewers came out firing, opening up a 9-5 lead behind kills from Casalino and Ehnstrom. Ithaca powered back, rattling off five straight points to tie things at 11-all, but the Brewers answered once again. Miller laid down a kill to open the margin to 17-14, but another Bombers rally saw the visitors take an 18-17 lead.
The set proved to be a back-and-forth battle at that point as each team continued to match one another. A kill from Wilson tied things at 23-all, but two attacking errors by Vassar saw the Bombers earn the 25-23 victory and the 3-0 match win.
Vassar returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to New Paltz for a 6pm contest. Ithaca also returns to the court on Wednesday in a 7pm match at Cortland.
