POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - The Utica University volleyball team split its matches against the United States Merchant Marine Academy Mariners and the Vassar College Brewers in the team's final contests of the season on Saturday evening. The Pioneers defeated the Mariners in a tough five set battle by a score of 3-2 before falling to the Brewers in another five set duel by a score of 2-3.
Utica, 3 USMMA, 2
Leading the way for the Pioneers was Elizabeth Hanba (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) who recorded a career high 22 kills. Trinity Bailey (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) recorded 18 kills and Mackenzie O'Brien (Troy, NY/Lansingburgh) recorded seven. Dishing out the assists were Lauren Jones (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) who recorded 29 and Alicia Ancewicz (Greenlawn, NY/John Glenn) who recorded 21. At the service line, Jones recorded four aces, Bailey recorded three, and O'Brien recorded two. On defense, Megan Wright (Clay Center, KS/Clay Center Community) recorded 37 digs, Jones recorded 22, and Bailey recorded 16. At the net, Peyton Migliaccio (Suffern, NY/Suffern) and Jada Anthony (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) each recorded four total blocks, and Jones recorded three.
The opening frame would see Utica jump out to a monster 9-0 lead on a pair of kills from Bailey, a kill from O'Brien, an ace from Jones, and a slew of attacking errors by the Mariners. Utica would follow that up with a trio of points on an ace from Bailey and a kill from Hanba to bring the score to 12-1. The Pioneers would allow a four point run by the Mariners to get the Pioneer lead down to six, but Utica would get the lead back to ten on a pair of aces from O'Brien, a kill from Hanba and an attacking error by USMMA at 17-7. It would be all gas no brakes for the Pioneers for the remainder of the opening frame as Utica would only allow four more points to the Mariners, walking away with set one, 25-11.
The second frame would see both teams trading blows before Utica could put together a five point run on kills from Jones, Anthony, and Bailey to give the Pioneers the lead at 10-8. Utica would then allow a trio of points to the Mariners that would then be followed up by a four point run to give USMMA the lead in the set at 16-12. Utica would then match the four point run of its own on a pair of kills from Anthony, and a pair of USMMA errors to give the lead in the set back to Utica at 19-18. The teams would then trade pairs of points but it would be USMMA that would come out on top in the set, 26-24.
The middle set would see both teams exchange points before knotting at seven a side. USMMA would begin to pull away after a trio of points to take the lead at 10-7, a lead which the Mariner would only briefly hold onto. Utica would put together a five point run on kills and a block from Migliaccio, an ace from Bailey, and a pair of attacking errors by the Mariners to take the lead at 15-12. Utica would continue to pull away from USMMA on another muli-point run on a pair of kills from Hanba, an ace from Ancewicz, and an attacking error by USMMA to bring the score to 20-15. USMMA would then go on a seven point run to bring the set to 24-22 before closing out the set at 25-23.
Utica would jump out to an early 5-0 lead in the fourth set on kills from Bailey and O'Brien, an ace from Jones, and an attacking error from the Mariners. Utica would then go on another five point run on kills from Hanba, an attacking error by USMMA to go ahead in the set at 10-1. Utica would then follow that up with yet another five point run with kills from Hanba, Anthony, and a pair of attacking errors by the Mariners to put the set completely out of Mariner reach at 15-2. After a pair of points by the Mariners, Utica would put together a trio of points with another pair of kills from Hanba before trading blows with USMMA. Utica would be able to hang onto the momentum, walking away with the set at 25-12.
The final frame would see both teams open the scoring by trading blows before both teams would put together trios of points to knot the set at seven apiece. Utica would then go on a five point run on kills from Bailey, Ancewicz, Jones, and an ace from Cassandra Wagemann (Diamond Point, NY/Lake George) to go ahead in the set at 12-8. USMMA would then go on a four point run to go ahead in the final frame at 14-13. Utica would be able to take the next three points on kills from Bailey and Hanba and an ace from Bailey would close out the final frame, 16-14.
Utica, 2 Vassar 3
Leading the way for the Pioneers was Trinity Bailey (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) who recorded 11 kills, Elizabeth Hanba (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) who recorded 10 kills and Lauren Jones (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) who recorded seven kills. Dishing out the assists was Jones, who recorded 21 assists and Alicia Ancewicz (Greenlawn, NY/John Glenn) recorded 12. At the service line, Jones recorded eight aces, Hanba recorded three, and Ancewicz recorded two. On defense, Megan Wright (Clay Center, KS/Clay Center Community) recorded 32 digs, Jones recorded 16, and Bailey recorded 10. At the net, Jada Anthony (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) recorded three total blocks, Bailey recorded two, and Peyton Migliaccio (Suffern, NY/Suffern) recorded one.
The first set would see Vassar jump out to an early 4-2 lead before the Pioneers would be able to put together a trio of points on kills from Anthony and Hanba to take the lead at 6-5. Vassar would follow that up with a trio of points of its own before Utica would respond with a four point run on a kill from Hanba, an ace from Ancewicz and a pair of attacking errors by the Brewers to go ahead in the set at 10-8. Vassar would then take the next eight of nine points to go ahead in the set at 16-11. Utica would take the next two points before Vassar would put together another multi-point run to go ahead in the set at 21-13. Utica would match that with a six point run on a kill and an ace from Jones, a trio of kills from Bailey and an attacking errors by the Brewers to cut the deficit to one, but the Pioneers would be unable to keep the momentum, allowing Vassar to take the set 25-21.
The second set would see Utica get out to an 8-5 lead early before Vassar would knot the set at eight a side. Utica would then go on a five point run to go ahead in the set at 16-12 on four straight aces from Jones and a kill from Migliaccio. Utica would battle back and forth with Vassar, being able to hold onto its lead until the end of the set, walking away with the win at 25-23.
The third frame would see both teams trade pairs of points until the Pioneers would be able to put together a trio of points on a pair of attacking errors by the Brewers and a kill from Anthony to go ahead in the set at 15-11. Utica would follow that up by taking eight of the next nine points to grow the Utica lead to ten at 23-13. Vassar would attempt to cut into its deficit, putting together a four point run, but Utica would be able to take the set, 25-17.
Utica would jump out to a two point lead in the fourth set at 4-2 early, before trading pairs of points with the Brewers to knot the set at eight a side. Vassar would then go on a four point run to take the lead in the set at 12-8, before following that up with another four point run to grow its lead in the set to six at 16-10. The teams would trade blows, but Utica would be unable to find its footing, allowing Vassar the set at 25-16.
The final frame would begin as a back and forth battle for the lead, with Utica eventually grabbing a hold of the lead at 10-8. Vassar would then go on to win the next seven points to walk away with the victory 15-10.
Utica completes its season with an overall record of 9-15, and have been eliminated from postseason contention with a conference record of 3-8.
