Saratoga Springs, NY - The fifth-seeded Vassar College Women's Volleyball team fell behind two sets to none and rallied to force a deciding fifth set before falling 22-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-21, 11-15 to fourth-seeded Skidmore in the First Round of the Liberty League Championship. Vassar's season comes to a close at 19-8 overall on the season while Skidmore advances to take on top-seeded Ithaca on Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. in the Liberty League semifinals.

First Set

• Skidmore took the early 8-2 lead on three kills from Maya Stolarz along with aces from Madison Manning and Catriona Hoelperl.
• Vassar cut the advantage down to 8-7 after a kill each from junior Holland Kaplan and sophomore Erin Lovett, an ace from senior Ellie Kogan and a block from senior Rebecca Gutierrez and Kaplan.
• Four straight kills from junior Maura McAusland and two aces from first year Amy Melchior put Vassar ahead 15-13.
• Following a Lovett winner to make it 17-15, the Thoroughbreds used a kill each from Chloe Heitman and Katy O'Connell to push Skidmore ahead 21-17.
• Three winners from Lovett and one kill from Kaplan evened the set at 21 all, leading to a Skidmore timeout.
• After a kill from Kaplan tied the set at 22, Skidmore used a kill and an ace from Heitman along with a Jazlin Chen winner to take the opening set.

Second Set

• Vassar opened the second set with a 5-1 advantage on a kill from Lovett and an ace from junior Franceca Medrano.
• Two winners from O'Connell and one from Stolarz put the Thoroughbreds ahead 7-6 before the Brewers responded with a six-point run behind two kills from Kaplan and one each from Lovett and McAusland to push ahead 12-7.
• Back-to-back winners from Skidmore cut the lead to 13-10 until two winners from McAusland and a kill from Medrano pushed ahead 16-10.
• The Thoroughbreds cut the deficit down to 19-17 on kills from Stolarz and Heitman, an ace from Manning and a block from Stolarz and O'Connell.
• Four straight kills from Chen, Manning and Heitman gave the Thoroughbreds a 24-22 lead and Skidmore won the second set on a block from Hoelperl and Chen.

Third Set

• Following a 6-6 beginning to the set, Vassar rattled off four straight points on a kill each from McAusland and Gutierrez and an ace from junior T Petro.
• Vassar pulled ahead 15-9 on two winners from McAusland and an ace from Melchior.
• Back-to-back kills from Stolarz cut the lead to 15-12 before the Brewers expanded the advantage to 17-12 on a Medrano ace and a block from first year Elena Feuer and Medrano.
• Skidmore drew within 19-18 on a kill from Chen followed by a block from Chen and Stolarz.
• The Brewers scored the final six points of the set behind two kills from sophomore Eleanor Gegen and two aces from Petro to clinch the third set victory.

Fourth Set

• Vassar scored a 7-3 lead to begin the fourth set behind two kills from Lovett and two blocks from Feuer and Lovett.
• Skidmore battled back to score a 10-9 lead on a kill from Manning.
• Following a block from Feuer and Lovett to go back ahead 15-13, Skidmore evened the set at 15 on a block from O'Connell and Stolarz.
• VC went back ahead 19-16 on kills from McAusland and Kaplan along with a block from Feuer and Lovett.
• Skidmore cut the deficit to 20-19 on kills from Chen, Heitman and Hoelperl before the Brewers used two Kaplan winners and a McAusland kill to push the lead to 22-19.
• Vassar took the fourth set following two Skidmore errors to extend the match to the deciding fifth set.

Fifth Set

• Skidmore went ahead 2-0 to open the final stanza on two blocks from O'Connell before VC evened it at two on two winners from McAusland.
• The Thoroughbreds regained the lead at 6-3 on a block from Chen and Manning along with a winner from Manning.
• VC cut the deficit to 7-6 on a winner from Kaplan until Skidmore collected three straight kills from Manning, Chen and Hoelperl to take a 10-6 lead.
• Skidmore grew its lead to 13-7 on winners from O'Connell and Chen and an ace from Marlowe.
• Vassar got back within 14-11 on two kills and a solo block from McAusland but a kill from Hoeperl advanced Skidmore to the Liberty League semifinals.

For The Brewers

• McAusland finished with a match-high 24 kills (.274) and 21 digs and closes the season with 404 kills, which ranks eighth all-time in Vassar program history. She also closes the season averaging 4.54 kills per set, which is the second highest mark in program history and also ranks third all-time in hitting percentage in a single season at .329.
• Lovett recorded 15 kills (.243), four blocks and four digs while Kaplan added 11 kills, eight digs and a block.
• Medrano tallied 48 assists, two aces, three blocks and 14 digs along with Gutierrez chipping in three kills and three blocks.
• Gegen registered three kills and four digs while Feuer recorded five blocks.
• Senior Ellie Kogan lifted 19 digs, Petro finished with three aces and 12 digs and Melchior posted four aces and three digs.

For The Thoroughbreds

• Stolarz garnered 12 kills and five blocks while Chen registered 12 winners and four blocks.
• Manning posted 11 winners, two aces, two blocks and seven digs along with O'Connell recording nine kills, two aces, six blocks and three digs.
• Heitman added seven kills, two aces and 11 digs while Hoelperl finished with six kills, 43 assists, one ace and 14 digs.
• McIntyre tallied a team-high 18 digs and two aces along with Isobel Streeper lifting 15 digs.

Up Next

• Vassar's season comes to a close at 19-8 overall on the season.
• Skidmore advances to the semifinal round against Ithaca on Friday.