The No. 21 Ithaca College volleyball team welcomed three teams to the annual Bomber Invitational by sweeping them, defeating the University of Rochester Yellowjackets 29-27, 25-10 and 25-8, as well as the Middlebury College Panthers 25-20, 25-19 and 25-15 before similarly disposing of the St. John Fisher University Cardinals 25-23, 25-10 and 25-14.
Game 1:
The Yellowjackets took an early 5-2 lead in the first set, but from there the Bombers slowly fought back. They went up 23-22 for their first lead of the set on one of many attack errors forced on the Yellowjackets. Then, after two consecutive Yellowjackets points, Bombers’ head coach Tara Stilwell called a timeout.
Stilwell said the conversation in the huddle during that time out was about playing up to standards.
“That first time out, before we went into extra points, it was a conversation of, you need to do your job because you’re not playing how you’re supposed to,” Stilwell said. “I think that resonated with them and then they started playing how they should.”
It seems it did, as a beautifully placed kill from senior right side Faith Sabatier followed by two errors would seal up the first set for the Bombers 29-27.
From there the Bombers took full control over the rest of the match, with the team going on a 9-0 run that included forcing six attack errors and a service ace from senior defensive specialist Peyton Miller. Two more 5-0 runs were put together by the Bombers during the set, with nine of the 10 points being attack errors, as the Bombers took the second set 25-10.
In the third and final set, the Yellowjackets made more mistakes, finishing the set with 12 attack errors and a -.233 hitting percentage. The best highlight of the set was a diving save from senior libero Ellie Benedict, an effort that eventually resulted in her assisting a Sabatier kill to make it a 7-2 set. The Bombers did not allow the Yellowjackets to get within five points for the remainder of the set, eventually winning 25-8.
Sophomore outside hitter Naomi Clauhs led the team with 10 kills and 13 points, but the real story of this game was more about the defense in the middle. The Bombers forced 36 attack errors and a -.094 hitting percentage, while only committing four attack errors and a hitting percentage of .354, by far their highest of the season.
Stilwell said that allowing the Yellowjackets to beat themselves was part of the game plan.
“We talked a lot about making sure that when we’re blocking, we block low to the net because they were swinging very high,” Stilwell said. “We talked about letting them make the mistakes and not catching our fingers, and then just being very disciplined on defense. I think that we did a really good job covering as well.”
A large part of these errors came as a result of out-blocking The Yellowjackets 14-1, with senior middle blocker Josie Hampton blocking a career-high seven attacks and junior middle blocker Ella Graper setting a season-high with six blocks.
Graper had six kills and an ace to go with her six blocks, and she said her teammates set her up for success today.
“I was just working on transitioning really hard,” Graper said. “Always just being available and the setters did a really good job of forcing the middle and getting me the balls and blocking. I just needed to get to the pins, and they set the block up in a great way.”
Game 2:
Against the Yellowjackets earlier in the day, the Bombers relied on opposition errors and focused on playing mistake-free. However, in the year prior, the Panthers finished just a round shy of where the Bombers did in the NCAA Tournament, so a different approach seemed to be necessary for a stronger opponent.
The first point set the tone for the Bombers’ play in this match. Following that, Sophomore setter Wesley Slavin had one of the highlights of the day, backhanding a pass from senior defensive specialist Peyton Miller just over the net for her second kill of the set to make the score 21-19. The Bombers quickly went on a run to close out the set 25-20.
After getting out to an 8-3 lead, the Panthers fought back with a 7-2 run that included two service aces to tie the match at 10-10. The two teams traded blows, but the Bombers eventually pulled off a 9-1 run to close the set and finish it 25-19.
The third set felt like a victory lap. Fans in the stands chanted as an especially sloppy set for the Panthers allowed the Bombers to get a comfortable 25-15 win.
Stilwell said the difference in approach came not from a specific game plan created for the Panthers, but from having no way to prepare for them specifically.
“To be completely honest, we didn’t know anything about Middlebury,” Stilwell said. “We had no scout on them because they hadn’t played yet. So our game plan was focusing on what we had to do to be successful, and it was to go out swinging, attack high, high hands, and just see what scored, and a lot scored. So I think it worked out really well.”
The Bombers’ hitting percentage of .241 was their lowest in a win this season, but they wore down a strong Panthers defense throughout the match. Sabatier and sophomore outside hitter Naomi Clauhs earned 12 and 11 kills respectively, while sophomore outside hitter Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu earned nine. Meanwhile, the Panthers had just one player reach nine kills, while no one else got above six.
Sabatier said the sweep could be seen as evidence of how far the team has come and what they can do this year.
“I think it sets a new baseline for us so we’re able to achieve more and more as the next games come up,” Sabatier said
Game 3:
Before this match, the Cardinals were the only other team to remain undefeated in the Invitational, having beaten the Yellowjackets in four sets and the Panthers in five. The final match of the round-robin just so happened to feature the only two unbeaten teams left in what seemed like it could be the Bombers’ biggest test of the weekend.
It certainly started that way, as the first set saw the Bombers and Cardinals trading blows. There were seven lead changes throughout the first set and neither side could create a lead greater than three points before the other began fighting back. After two straight kills by Cardinals sophomore middle blocker Ana Gutman, they took a 22-20 lead while Stilwell took a timeout.
Her words seemed to have yet again energized the Bombers, as they went on a 5-1 run to come back and close out the set 25-23. The set hero was Sabatier, who blocked a Cardinals spike at the net for point 24, before spiking one of Slavin’s 36 assists on the match for the set-winning kill.
The remaining two sets were not as competitive as the Bombers had four runs of at least five unanswered points in the final two sets to go along with six service aces. They also only committed three attack errors, compared to the 13 they forced out of the Cardinals in the same timeframe. The Bombers quickly finished both the second and third, winning by scores of 25-10 and 25-14 respectively.
Most telling of all, the Bombers amassed a hitting percentage north of .400 across sets two and three while holding the Cardinals to just .074, a testament to the level of performance Stilwell said this team was capable of.
“I think the second and third set, we actually executed,” Stilwell said. “And so I’m very proud of them for that.”
Gonzalez-Abreu finished the match with 16 kills, tied for the highest total by any individual in the tournament with the Panthers sophomore outside hitter Lauren Baxter.
The Bombers improve to 5- 1 and will make a nearly 300-mile trip south for a highly-anticipated matchup with No. 4 Johns Hopkins University at 7 p.m. Sept. 13 in Baltimore.
