New Paltz, NY - Williams (9-1) traveled to the Hawks Challenge Invitational and lost to No. 25 Ithaca College (10-3) in straight sets, but rallied and defeated SUNY New Paltz (10-5) in five sets.
Williams took on the Ithaca Bombers in their first match of the day, and in the third set controlled the early action behind three consecutive aces from junior
Sidra Wohlwend. Williams was not able to stay in charge though, and Ithaca capitalized on a procession of Eph errors to tie the score at 10-10. Ithaca took their first lead of the set at 12-11 and would never relinquish it, although a double block from seniors
Marit Hoyem and
Celia Adams pulled the Ephs within one at 16-15. From there, the Bombers surged onward, and won the third set 25-20, claiming the match win.
Williams came out on fire in their first set of the day, racing out to an early 6-2 lead behind some quality serving from
Sidra Wohlwend. However, Ithaca battled their way back into the set, and took a 12-11 off a Williams error. From there, the Bombers were able to maintain a small lead for the remainder of the set, and won the first set 25-22.
The Ephs bounced back from their loss in the first set to win the first six points of the second set. Williams maintained the size of that lead for quite a while, with the fourth kill of the set from
Celia Adams establishing a 13-7 Eph advantage. However, in what seems a bad case of deja vu for Williams, the Bombers once again came racing back from their deficit, and reclaimed the lead with a service ace from sophomore Ella Graper at 15-14. Although an Ithaca error and a powerful kill from first year
Keely Campuzano helped the Ephs reclaim the lead, it would all be for naught as for the rest of the set it was all Ithaca, who emerged victorious from the second set 25-19.
Ithaca leaders were: first year Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu with 11 kills, first year Wesley Slavin with 30 assists, and senior Julia Costa with 13 digs. Williams leaders were:
Celia Adams with 7 kills, senior
Lauren Kauppila with 17 assists, and
Sidra Wohlwend with 18 digs.
In their second match of the day, the Ephs took on the SUNY New Paltz Hawks in a back and forth match that came down to a deciding fifth set. However, the Ephs simply dominated the final set, as they jumped out to an early 5-1 lead behind two kills from
Marit Hoyem and never looked back from there. A critical service ace from
Sidra Wohlwend made the score 12-6, and an untimely error from the Hawks secured the fifth set 15-9 for the Ephs.Â
In the first set, the Hawks controlled much of the early action, but the Ephs were able to take their first lead of the match at 13-12 thanks to a well-placed serve from
Lauren Kauppila. The set continued to go back and forth between the two teams, and Williams was on the verge of claiming the first set at one point with a 24-23 lead, but the Hawks rallied to win three in a row and take the set 26-24.
Williams started off the second set well, winning seven of the first nine points, but SUNY New Paltz quickly found their way back with a six point run to take an 8-7 lead. Although a service error stopped the Hawks mid-flight, they quickly got back on track by winning another six points in a row, building their lead up to 14-8. The Hawks continued on a roll up until they were just two points from a commanding two set lead at 23-15. However, the Ephs came out of nowhere with an inspired run of ten points in a row to race their way back into the set, and
Lauren Kauppila came up clutch with back to back setter dumps to clinch the second set 25-23 for Williams.
Unlike the previous two sets, the Ephs controlled the third set virtually from start to finish. A service ace from
Lauren Kauppila set up a 14-6 Williams lead, and six different Ephs had already contributed kills up to that point in the set. Although the Hawks looked like they might be working their way back into the set with back to back aces to narrow the deficit somewhat at 22-15, the Ephs quickly responded and secured the third set 25-17.
The Hawks led the fourth set nearly wire to wire, as they controlled much of the early action before the Ephs rallied to tie the score at 14-14. However, Williams was unable to take the lead, and the Hawks came up with some big plays down the stretch to hold off the Ephs and force a deciding fifth set by winning 25-21.
SUNY New Paltz leaders were: senior Mackenzie Williams with 18 kills, senior Cate DiGiacomo with 45 assists, and senior Melanie Podstupka with 17 digs. Williams leaders were:
Marit Hoyem with 14 kills,
Lauren Kauppila with 36 assists, and
Sidra Wohlwend with 25 digs.
Reflecting on a long day of two tough matches, Eph head coach
Christi Kelsey commented, "The Ithaca match was a really good test for us this weekend to start. We are both strong, consistent teams so the matchup was a good one for us early in the season in so many ways. We played incredibly well at times and controlled parts of each set but you have to play point for point all the way through to 25 with a team like Ithaca and we gave up a few key runs that were harder to recover from. Overall, it was a great learning moment for us, and we knew we would have to bounce back against a strong New Paltz team tonight. They definitely put the pressure on us early and we couldn't quite get into a good rhythm until the end of the second set. Our team has been consistently mentally tough, so we were really proud of the fact that they gutted it out the second set and were able to keep the momentum going overall from that point. New Paltz did a great job of continuing to make us work and earn points. It was awesome to see us really dial in for the 5th set, control the pace of the game with our serving and ball control, then close it out at the end!"
The Ephs will be back in action in New London, CT at 7:00 PM EST on Friday, September 22nd when they take on Connecticut College.
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