The Ithaca College volleyball team continued NCAA tournament play saturday afternoon Nov. 11 going up against Stevens Institute of Technology in the regional semifinal. Coming off a big three-set win the day before in the opening round against Endicott College, the Bombers defeated the Ducks with a score of 20–25, 25–19, 28–26, 25–17.

The Bombers had a slow start to the match and trailed for the majority of the first set. The team went down 6–2, 13–7, and 20–16, but the Blue and Gold brought the score back, only down 19–20 at one point. The Ducks took over in the end however and finished off the set, winning the final 5 out of 6 points.

The beginning of the second set was similar to the first set for Ithaca, falling behind the Ducks. The turning point of the set came when the Bombers were trailing 18–15, and Blue and Gold head coach Johan Dulfer decided to take a timeout. From that point on, the South Hill squad scored the last 10 out of 11 points and closed out the set.

The most important point of the match was the third set, which ended up coming down to the wire. The score was 25–25, and because of clutch plays by both junior middle hitter Amanda Cerruti, and senior outside hitter Joelle Goldstein, the Bombers pulled away and won the set.

The team carried momentum from the previous close set and finished off the Ducks scoring the last 7 out of 8 points.  

Leading the way for the Bombers, freshman middle and outside hitter Reagan Stone recorded a team high 13 kills, and sophomore setter Caitlyn Floyd had one of the strongest performances of the season, racking up 54 assists.

The team’s strong defensive play was one of the main reasons the Blue and Gold came away with a win in the end. The team accumulated 72 digs, while the Ducks were not too far behind with 61 digs.

With this win, Ithaca moves on to regional championships and will play either Clarkson University or Babson College at 1 p.m. Nov. 12.