UTICA, NY - The Utica University volleyball team downed Empire 8 Conference newcomer SUNY Poly in a cross-town rivalry matchup in straight sets by a score of 3-0 on Wednesday evening.
Leading the way for the Pioneers was
Megan Wright (Clay Center, KS/Clay Center Community), who recorded eight kills in the contest.
Trinity Bailey (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) recorded six and
Caitlyn Esposito (Haddam, CT/Haddam-Killingworth) recorded four of her own whilst notching a 1.000 attacking percentage. Assisting the Pioneer offensive onslaught was
Lauren Jones (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham), who recorded 17 assists, and
Alicia Ancewicz (Greenlawn, NY/John Glenn) who tallied nine of her own. At the service line, Jones accounted for four Pioneer aces, whilst
Jada Anthony (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) and
Cassandra Wagemann (Diamond Point, NY/Lake George) recorded a pair of aces each. On defense, Wright led the team with 10 digs, followed by Wagemann with nine, and
Liv Leider (Homestead, FL/Felix Varela) with seven. At the net,
Elizabeth Hanba (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) recorded two blocks and Esposito and Anthony each recorded one.
In the opening frame, both teams would trade blows before knotting at three apiece. Utica would capitalize on a trio of errors from Poly and an ace from Wagemann to go up in the set at 6-3, a lead the Pioneers would hold onto the entirety of the set. Utica would string together a kill from Wright and a pair of aes from Anthony to go up in the set at 12-7. The Pioneers would the put together a massive 10-point run to put the set completely out of Wildcat reach highlighted by a pair of Bailey kills and a pair of aces from Jones to put Poly on ice at 22-8. Utica would not let off the gas, closing out the set at 25-10 on a pair of errors by Poly.
The second set would see Utica jump out to an early 6-2 lead on a kill from Hanba, an ace from Wagemann and an attacking error for the Wildcats. Poly would then begin to find its footing, stringing together a six-point run with four kills in order to go ahead in the set at 8-6 for the team's first lead of the set. The Pioneers would then swing the momentum in their favor, capitalizing on a slew of Wildcat errors to go ahead in the set at 12-8. Utica would once again put its foot on the gas, stringing together a five point run highlighted by a pair of kills from Wright, and a kill from Jones to go ahead in the set at 17-9 to once again put the set out of Wildcat reach. The teams would trade blows before Utica would put together two trios of points to close out the set 25-13.
The final frame was a continuation of the Pioneer offensive onslaught, with Utica jumping out to an early 6-0 lead capitalizing on a slew of Wildcat errors. The Pioneers would go on to put together another monster of a run highlighted by a pair of kills from Bailey, a pair of kills from Esposito and an ace from Wright to go ahead in the set at 13-2. After a service error, Utica would then sting together a five point run to completely put the Wildcats away in the set, highlighted by a kill from Esposito, Hanba, and Anthony at 18-3. If that was not enough for the Pioneers, Utica would then put together another multi-point run highlighted by a pair of kills from Wright, a kill from Anthony, and an ace from Hanba to go ahead in the set 23-6. Utica would then close out the set at 25-7.
Utica, (5-6, 1-0 Empire 8) travels to Troy, NY to take on the Russell Sage College Gatos on Friday, October 4. Game time is set for 7p.m.
