Lady Pioneers Advance to USCAA Semis

The Alfred State volleyball team defeated Carlow 3-1 in the USCAA Championship quarterfinals to advance to the Final Four for the second year in a row. Earlier in the day, the Lady Pioneers fell 2-1 to St. Mary of the Woods (IN) and 2-0 to Florida College to wrap up pool play.

In a highly competitive match vs. St. Mary of the Woods to open up the day, Alfred State won the opening set 25-20, SMWC won the second 25-19, and in a back and forth deciding third set the Pomeroys rallied from a 7-3 deficit and held on for a 15-13 victory.

Madison Szpaicher (Ellicottville) led the Lady Pioneers with six kills and 10 digs while Madison Webster (Corning) was all over the defensive backcourt recording 15 digs. Jessica Padley (Sweet Home) had five kills and eight digs and Lera Braun (Waterloo) finished with 19 assists. Alfred State hit on .147 in the contest.

McKenzi Kumpf had 11 digs and six kills for SMWC. Jessica Combs finished with 13 digs and five kills while Mary Alvarez passed out 27 assists. Five different Pomeroys finished with at least five kills.

The Lady Pioneers struggled vs. defending champion Florida falling 25-18 and 25-10. Bryanna Godfrey (Tioga) led the team with four kills while Braun passed out eight assists and had six digs. Alfred St. hit a -.034 in the game.

Savannah Gorman finished with 10 kills for the Falcons. Abbey Rouch passed out 21 assists and Hannah Mitchell collected 12 digs. Florida recorded a .271 hitting percentage in the game.

The blue & gold advanced to the quarterfinals as the #4 seed in Pool A after finishing pool play with a 1-3 mark. In the quarters they drew Carlow (PA) who was 3-1 in Pool B and earned the #1 seed.

Carlow won a wild back and forth opening set 31-29 but the Lady Pioneers answered back with three straight victories, 25-17, 25-23, 25-19.

Janae Hamilton (Ellicottville) had a monster game with 18 kills while Grace Hall (Ellicottville) chipped in 15 kills and 3.5 blocks. Braun passed out 47 assists and 20 digs, Szpaicher had 11 kills and 13 digs, and Godfrey added seven kills and 11 digs. Webster chipped in 18 digs from her libero position. The Lady Pioneers hit connected on 59 kills and hit .235 in the contest. The team collected 78 digs and six aces in the victory.

Carly Bonk led the Celtics with 11 kills, Ashley Grooms and Michaela Koran each passed out 18 assists, and Kelsey Bonk finished with a game high 35 digs. Carlow hit only .111 in the game.

The Pioneers (27-8) will have a rematch with St. Mary of the Woods in the semifinals on Saturday. Opening serve is slated for 10 a.m.