UTICA, NY – The Utica College volleyball team returns to Empire 8 Conference play Saturday as it travels to St. John Fisher College for and Empire 8 pod.  The Pioneers will take on the host Cardinals at 11 a.m. before facing Elmira College at 1:30 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT: UC is coming off a 3-0 non-conference victory over SUNY Cobleskill on Thursday… The Pioneers earned the season sweep of the Fighting Tigers, and the game marked their third win in straight sets this year… Freshman Hannah Voss (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) had a huge day on the attack as she totaled a career-best 17 kills, with a hitting percentage of .600… Sophomore Samantha Hoerning (Farmingville, NY/Sachem East) was second on the team with 10 kills and compiled an extraordinary hitting percentage of .833...  Freshman Leah Octave (New Windsor, NY/Cornwall) had a strong showing at the line as she added a season-high five service aces.
 
KILLING IT: UC has three players with over 120 kills on the season… Freshman Hannah Voss (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) leads the team with 184 kills and 26 service aces… Brandi Blaszak (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) is second on the squad in kills with 144 while Laura Homer-Gunther (Sauquoit, NY/Sauquoit) is third with 125 kills on the year.
 
BLOCK CITY: The Pioneers have three players with over 30 blocks… Blaszak leads the team with 38.0 blocks on the season, followed by Homer-Gunther (37.0) and freshman Nicole Herringshaw (Syracuse, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) has totaled 31.0 blocks.
 
HELPING HAND: Lora Allen (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville) has 538 assists on the year and is averaging 7.47 assists per set… With 14 games left in the season, she is on pace to break her career-high of 752 assists in a single season.
 
CAN YOU DIG IT?: Alexis Lyon (Prospect, NY/Holland Patent) leads the team this season with a career-high 383 digs… Voss is second on the team in digs with 212 while Lora Allen (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville) is third (196).
 
SCOUTING FISHER: The Cardinals are 10-9 overall and 1-3 in the E8… They are coming off a 3-0 loss to Houghton on Wednesday… Anna Marcy leads the squad with 191 kills and 19 blocks, while Elise Kruez has a team-best 268 digs. 
 
SCOUTING ELMIRA: The Soaring Eagles are 10-8 overall and 2-2 in the conference… Elmira is coming off a 3-0 loss to Pitt-Bradford on Thursday… Natalie Schleder leads the attack with 180 kills, while Kelsey Ray has 25 blocks...  Utica lost a five-set thriller to Elmira last season, as the Soaring Eagles scored four straight points in the final set to take a 15-12 decision in the final frame. 
 
LOOKING AHEAD: Utica will wrap up its home campaign Thursday as it hosts cross-town rival SUNY Poly… Thursday's contest will serve as Utica's senior night as well as the Pioneers' annual Dig Pink match for breast cancer awareness… Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.