Lady Spikers Split on Opening Day of Lycoming Tourney

The Alfred State volleyball team split a pair of matches on the opening day of the Lycoming Tip-off Tournament. They defeated Wilkes 3-2 but fell 3-1 to host Lycoming.

In their five set opening match with Wilkes, the Lady Pioneers won the first two sets 25-16, 25-20 but saw the Colonels rally back to the next two, 19-25, 22-25. In the deciding 5th set, the Alfred State scored the first six points and held off a Wilkes rally for a 15-12 victory.

Janae Hamilton (Ellicottville) led the way with 14 kills and 4.5 blocks. Jessica Padley (Sweet Home) recored 12 kills and 13 digs, Lera Braun (Waterloo) passed out 36 assists and had nine digs and three aces, and Madison Szpaicher (Ellicottville) finished with 15 digs and eight kills. Bryanna Godfrey (Tioga) had nine digs and eight kills and Valerie Intini (Eastridge) chipped in 13 digs.

Ally Paskas led Wilkes with 10 kills, Megan Powers passed out 33 assists, and Danica Benson chipped in 23 digs.

Versus Lycoming (10-5), the Lady Pioneers came back to win the opening set 25-23 but lost a tough 26-24 set that gave the Warriors the momentum. Lycoming jumped out to big leads in the 3rd (18-25) and 4th set (10-25) to win the match.

Godfrey led the way ith 12 kills and 10 digs. Braun had 34 assists and 15 kills, Padley chipped in 11 kills, Szpaicher added 12 digs. Madison Webster (Corning) finished with 13 digs.

Maggie Slavin led three Warriors with double digits kills with 17. Bethany Richardson added 11 and Lauren Fink had 10. Catherine Burger passed out 48 assists and Emily Hepner led the way with 19 digs.

The loss to Lycoming was the first of the season for Alfred State. They now are 13-1 on the year and ranked #3 in the first USCAA poll of the season.

The blue & gold continue play in the Lycoming Tournament on Saturday. They battle CCNY at 10 a.m. and Misericordia at Noon.