High Hopes as Lady Spikers Head to Nationals

The Alfred State volleyball team has high hopes as it heads to the USCAA National Championships this week at SUNY Canton. The Lady Pioneers, the #3 seed, head to nationals with a 22-4 mark.

The Lady Pioneers have keyed on the experience of senior Kay Pfleghardt (Tioga) and juniors Lera Braun (Waterloo), and Jess Ramsey (Tioga). Pfleghardt has registered over 1,000 kills in her career and has a team high 316 thus far in 2014. She also has chipped in 298 digs and 44 aces. Braun has passed out 775 assists, leads the team with 58 aces, and also accumulated 183 digs and 114 kills. Ramsey has been the defensive specialist with a team best 449 digs on the year.

Sophomores Grace Hall (Ellicottville), Madison Szpaicher (Ellicotville), Jess Padley (Sweet Home), and Janae Hamilton (Ellicottville) have continued to improve and have been key pieces to the consistency the Lady Pioneers have shown all season.

Alfred State started the season as the runner-ups at the USCAA tip-off tournament with a 3-2 record. They then went on to win fourteen straight matches to improve to 17-2. In their final seven matches prior to Nationals the Lady Pioneers are 5-2. Alfred St. was ranked #3 in every USCAA poll released this fall.

Head coach Gene Doorley and the Lady Pioneers have never faced off versus any of the other teams in their pool.

• #1 Florida College - 20-6, Eight time USCAA Champions, #1 in nation in assists, Malea Kalina has 359 kills.
• #5 Berea - 12-10, First trip to USCAA Championships, averaging 2.21 blocks per set on season.
• #7 Tennessee Temple - 17-11, Naomi Posada is averaging 9.78 digs per set and team has 254 solo blocks
• #9 Carlow University - 10-16, Amber Bussard has 52 block assists on the season

In the other pool, #2 Rochester (MI) College, #4 SUNY Canton, #6 Cincinnati-Clermont, #8 Penn State Fayette, and #10 Concordia-Alabama will battle. The Lady Pioneers played Rochester twice in 2014 and played Canton in 2013.

On Wednesday the team travels to Canton where they will get one final practice in before beginning play in their first ever USCAA National Tournament on Thursday. They take on #9 Carlow University at 10 a.m. and #7 Tennessee Temple at 2:30 p.m.

Follow the Lady Pioneers trip to the USCAA National Championships via Alfred State's social media sites: http://www.alfredstateathletics.com/social-stream