ROCHESTER, NY - The Utica University volleyball team fell to Hartwick College 3-0 in the Empire 8 Semifinals on Friday night. 
 
The first set saw the Pioneers jump out to a 6-1 edge as the defense was forcing Hartwick into multiple errors. Utica then held a 10-3 advantage courtesy of a block by Abriana Wadley (Utica, NY/Proctor) and Peyton Migliaccio (Suffern, NY/Suffern). Hartwick would not go away as the team cut the lead down to 11-7 before opening a six-point scoring run to take a 13-11 advantage. The teams kept exchanging leads before the Hawks took a 19-14 edge as their offense started to get clicking. The Pioneers would not let down as the team cut the Hartwick lead down to 24-22 yet the Hawks closed out the set with a 25-22 set victory and now led 1-0 in the match.
 
The Pioneers kept their intense energy going into the second set and took a 1-0 lead on a beautiful serving ace by Madison Maggiore (Orangeburg, NY/Tappan Zee). The teams exchanged leads for the early portion of the set before Hartwick opened a 10-7 edge. Utica would storm back to tie the set at 12-12 via a Brianna Woods (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) kill. The Hawks offense started to take command at the end of the set and would win the set 25-20 and took a critical 2-0 edge in the match.
 
The Hawks offense kept firing and took a quick 5-1 lead. Hartwick's offense kept rolling and opened a 16-7 advantage. The Pioneers cut into the deficit and made the set 16-11 as the offense started to heat up via the kill. Wadley and Woods both recorded a kill during the run and Maggiore tacked on another service ace. Yet, the Hawks offense could not be stopped, and the team won the set 25-15 and the match 3-0.
 
The Pioneers offense was led by Eleanor Cepiel (West Sand Lake, NY/Academy of Holy Names) with six kills and followed by Maggiore (four) and Woods with three. Maggiore served fantastic today as she accumulated four aces while McKenna LaPorte (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) and Krystell Pappas (Owensboro, KY/Owensboro) also recorded one. Defensively, Catilyn Esposito had three blocks and Pappas totaled thirteen digs to lead Utica.
 
The loss wraps up a magical season for the Pioneers which featured the most wins and Empire 8 Conference wins in a season. The team also made it to the Empire 8 Semifinals for the first time ever and set many program records such as beating Nazareth for the first time in program history and then did it again in the Empire 8 First Round. Hartwick will face St. John Fisher in the Empire 8 Championship tomorrow afternoon.