Lady Spikers Return to USCAA Nationals

The Alfred State Volleyball team ended the 2015 regular season with a 25-5 record and will head to Canton, NY this week to compete in the USCAA Championships for the second year in a row.

Alfred State started the season with an electric 13-0 start and climbed as high as #2 in the USCAA poll. At one point during the season the Lady Pioneers won 13 straight sets. The Lady Pioneers have averaged 10.75 kills and 16.85 digs per set in 30 matches. The blue & gold have an impressive 10-0 mark at home and 18 of the teams victories were 3-0 sweeps.

The Pioneers success has come from a diverse roster makeup of one senior, five juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen.

The lone senior Lera Braun (Waterloo) has passed out 886 assists, 232 kills and 225 digs. Braun who is the leading server with a team high of 71 aces is a returning 2nd team USCAA All-American.

The junior laden team has accounted for 67% of the teams overall kills and over half of the services aces. The junior class includes,  Janae Hamilton (Ellicotville),  Jessica Padley (Tonawanda), Grace Hall (Ellicottville), and Madison Szpaicher (Ellicottville).

• Hamilton leads the Lady Pioneers with 246 kills and a .390 hitting percentage. She also has 50 solo blocks and 25 assisted blocks.
• Padley has accumulated 182 kills and 225 digs on the year in 102 sets played.
• Hall has recoreded 178 kills, 83 digs, 65 aces, and 26 solo blocks on the year.
• Szpaicher has added 303 digs, 116 kills and 29 aces in 102 sets.

Bryanna Godfrey (Tioga) and Madison Webster (Corning) highlight the underclassmen. Godfrey has 232 kills and 295 digs to end her impressive sophomore regular season. Webster, in her freshmen season, is third on the team with 275 digs on the year. 

The Pioneers were placed in pool A as the #4 Seed, the pool consists of #1 Florida College (23-5) -the nine time USCAA Champion, #5 St. Mary of the Woods (IN) College (14-14), #8 Penn State Bradywine (20-3), and #9 University of Maine Fort Kent (21-7)

In pool B, #2 SUNY Canton, #3 Rochester (MI) College, #6 Berea (KY) College #7 Carlow (PA) University and #10 NHTI.

After a practice day and the National Championship banquet on Wednesday, November 4th, the Lady Pioneers will take on Maine Fort Kent at 10 a.m. and Penn State Brandywine at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. Pool play continues on Friday with Alfred State taking on St. Mary's of the Woods at 10 a.m. and Florida College at 2:30 p.m. 

The championship quarterfinals are slated for 4:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. on Friday with the semifinals and finals scheduled for Saturday November 7th starting at 10 a.m.

At the 2014 USCAA Championships the Lady Pioneers were the #3 seed and went 2-2 in pool play with victories over Carlow and Tennesee Temple to advance to the quarterfinals. The team defeated Cincinnati Clermont 3-1 in the quarters but was defeated by Florida College in the national semifinals.

For more information or to follow the National Championships visit: http://volleyball.theuscaa.com/landing/index