UTICA, NY - The Utica University volleyball team fell in an Empire 8 Conference matchup to the Alfred University Saxons on Friday evening by a score of 3-1.
Trinity Bailey (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) led the team with eight kills, while
Megan Wright (Clay Center, KS/Clay Center Community) recorded five and
Jada Anthony (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) recorded four. Dishing out the assists was
Lauren Jones (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham), who recorded 14 and
Alicia Ancewicz (Greenlawn, NY/John Glenn) who recorded four. At the service line Anthony, Jones,
Cassandra Wagemann (Diamond Point, NY/Lake George),
Samara Hunt (Fultonville, NY/Fonda-Fultonville Central). and
Mackenzie O'Brien (Troy, NY/Lansingburgh) each recorded an ace. On defense, Wright recorded 16 digs, Wagemann recorded eight and Jones recorded six. At the net,
Peyton Migliaccio (Suffern, NY/Suffern), Anthony, Jones, and Bailey each assisted on a block.
The opening frame would see Utica jump out to an early two point lead before exchanging trios of points with the Saxons to go up in the set at 5-3. Alfred would then string together four points to go ahead in the set by two at 7-5, a lead the Saxons would hold onto for the remainder of the set. The teams would trade blows before Alfred would put together another multi-point run, capitalizing on Pioneer errors to expand its lead to seven at 14-7. Both teams would trade points once more before Utica would cut its deficit to four capitalizing on Saxon errors at 16-12. Utica would be unable to hold on to the momentum and allow Alfred to walk away with the set 25-14.
Alfred would jump out to an early 4-0 lead to start the second set, a lead which the Pioneers would be unable to make up for the entirety of the set. Utica would take back to back kills from Bailey and Wright to cut the lead in half at 4-2. The teams would trade blows before Alfred would string together a multi-point run to go ahead in the set at 10-3. The teams would once again trade blows before Utica would put together a trio of points on a kill from Ancewicz, an ace from Anthony, and a Saxon error to cut the deficit to four at 12-8. Once again the teams would go point for point before the Alfred offense would overwhelm the Pioneers and Utica would fall behind in the set scores at 2-0.
The third frame would see the Pioneers take a 2-0 lead before trading blows with the Saxons to go up in the set at 6-2. Alfred would capitalize on Pioneer errors to cut its deficit to one and bring the set to 6-5. The Saxons would then put together a four-point run to go ahead in the set at 9-7. Utica would then even the set at nine apiece on a kill from Jones, and a bad set by the Saxons. The Pioneers would then put together a trio of points on a pair of Saxon attacking errors and a kill from Wright to take back the lead in the set at 12-10. Both teams would then trade pairs and trios of points until the Pioneers would walk away with the set win at 25-20.
The final frame would prove to be the Pioneer's kryptonite, as Alfred would jump out to an early 5-1 lead. The teams would trade back to back points before Utica would be able to put together a trio of points on a pair of Alfred errors and a kill from Bailey to put the Pioneers down by only one at 7-6. Alfred would match the Pioneer's offensive efforts with a trio of its own to bring the set to 10-6 before the teams would trade blows. Utica would then put together another trio of points on kill from Anthony, an ace from O'Brien and a huge block from Jones and Anthony to bring the deficit to one. The Pioneers would be unable to complete the comeback, allowing Alfred to walk away with the set win, 25-16.
Utica (5-9, 1-3 Empire 8) remains home to take on the Houghton University Highlanders on Saturday, October 12 in the team's annual Fight for the Cure Match benefitting the Susan G. Komen foundation. Game time from the Clark Athletic Center is set for 1pm.
