The Ithaca College volleyball team dominated Southern Vermont College, winning the match 3–0 to move on to the Round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.
The Bombers took the first set 25–10. Sophomore outside hitter Reagan Stone scored first for the Blue and Gold off an assist by junior setter Caitlyn Floyd. After the first point, the Bombers held the lead throughout the entire set.
The South Hill squad had 15 kills to the Mountaineers’ four. Stone led the first set with six kills while Floyd led with 14 assists.
Senior libero Tara Stilwell said that playing in front of a home crowd was beneficial for the team.
“It was really exciting because the way the end of the season went, we weren’t really sure, so getting to host here in Ithaca is so exciting,” Stilwell said. “All of our friends get to watch us play, and we get to play on the court we practice on and we know and just getting to be here is really great.”
In the second set, the Bombers outscored the Mountaineers 25–12. Twice throughout the match, the Blue and Gold went on a four-point streak to secure the second set. The first point was scored off a kill by freshman outside hitter Alison Lipton.
Leading 21–12, the Bombers finished the second set with four straight aces from sophomore setter Delaney Runyon to secure the set. The Mountaineers only had three kills compared to the Bombers’ 11.
In the final set, the South Hill squad dominated the scoring once again to take the third set 25–6. The first point of the game was scored off a kill by Evans, which started an 11–0 scoring streak. In that time, the Bombers had nine kills and scored two points off of attack errors. Evans led in kills during that span with four while freshman outside hitter Jaelyn Hershberger had three kills.
The Blue and Gold continued to shut down the Mountaineers throughout the set. By the end of the final set, the Bombers had 18 kills compared to Southern Vermont’s two.
“It was good to see we earned the majority of our points,” head coach Johan Dulfer said. “We talked a lot about that in practice the past two weeks, and quite honestly, our past five practices have been some of the best of the year. I think it’s only fueled us to be better, and today we were convinced that it had to be about us and about attacking and I thought we did an excellent job doing that.”
The Bombers extend their overall record to 19–7 and will face off against Stevenson University at 5 p.m. Nov. 10 in Ben Light Gymnasium. Earlier in the tournament, Stevenson defeated Hunter College by a score of 3–2.
Dulfer said the team is prepared to go up against Stevenson in the Round of 32.
“At this point, we expect there to be a good opponent on the other side of the net, and we wouldn’t want it any other way,” Dulfer said. “We’ll take it one game at a time, we’re grateful that we move on, and we hope to have a good game tomorrow.”
