The volleyball team came into the 2009 season having to overcome a good deal of adversity to be successful. When it lost sophomore outside hitter Jess Hoeffner to a season ending ACL tear during preseason training, this became even clearer.

The already limited squad dealt with other key injuries throughout the season as well, but their spirits were never hindered, as they played through their misfortune en route to a successful season.

After being picked to finish fifth in the conference, the Bombers came out of the gates slowly, losing four of their first six matches. The momentum shifted, though, when the team got its first opportunity to play at home at the Bomber Invitational.  The Blue and Gold were a perfect 5–0 on the weekend, and were crowned tournament champions.

While the Bombers struggled to find consistency during a majority of their tournaments, they seemed to raise their level of play when it came to conference opponents. During the first Empire 8 crossover tournament at Hartwick College, the Bombers took three of four matches. They duplicated their performance in the second crossover tournament at Nazareth College, moving them to 6–2 in conference, and setting them up for a third and final battle with Nazareth in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Championship tournament.

Ithaca, who was bested by the Golden Flyers the two previous weekends, came into the match looking for revenge, and they got it as they upset Nazareth 3–1. Despite going on to lose to Stevens Institute of Technology in the championship match, Head Coach Janet Donovan said she was still happy about the team’s victory over a troublesome foe.

“When we beat Nazareth that was a huge win for us,” Donovan said “I wish we could have prepared well enough to beat Stevens later that day, but that was a lot to ask for the kids to prepare for that caliber match back-to-back.”

Unfortunately for the Blue and Gold, their second-place finish in the conference was not enough to earn them a spot in the NCAA tournament. But, it did warrant them the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament, where they went on to win the championship.

The championship match pitted the Bombers against Elmira College, a team they had already beaten twice on the year. The Soaring Eagles had played Ithaca through tough matches, though, forcing four and five sets, respectively. The championship was also a hard fought battle. After losing the first set, the Bombers pulled out three sets in a row to earn themselves the ECAC title for the fourth time in program history.

The Bombers also reached some personal milestones as well this season. While leading her team to an impressive 26–17 record, senior co-captain Corinna Doctor capped off her illustrious career by earning herself Most Outstanding Player honors in the ECAC tournament. Doctor also broke Ithaca’s all-time career records for both assists and service aces. Also moving on is senior co-captain Rachel Busch, one of the Blue and Gold’s most powerful and consistent hitters over the past few seasons.

While the Bombers lose some key weapons to graduation, they have a lot to look forward to next season. With current juniors Tina Orlandini and Taylor Horton at the helm, the Bombers will be looking to feed off the momentum they gained from this season’s late resurgence.

Donovan said that while the injuries hurt the Bombers NCAA tournament chances this year, she is glad that some of her underclassmen got a chance to gain game experience.

“These kids have gotten some valuable experience in their freshman and sophomore year,” Donovan said. “The core of our team and our biggest class are our sophomores, and they learned a lot this year … we’ve seen there are some really good teams out there that we can compete with and beat.”

One of those sophomores who will be instrumental if the Bombers are to find success in 2010 is Chelsea Hayes. Hayes was sidelined by an injury for a good portion of the season, but she made a large impact upon her midseason return, as she helped push the Bombers into the playoffs. Hayes said her squad’s success next season will rely heavily on its commitment in the off-season.

“This year we had a lot of great freshmen and they’re just going to continue to get better,” Hayes said. “This off-season is going to be extremely telling about our next season. Hopefully our youthfulness will be to our advantage.”

The Bombers will face a more challenging schedule next season as they will take on west coast competition. If the team can stay healthy, its nucleus of solid young talent should be able to find great success.