ITHACA, N.Y. (October 25, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team completed the Empire 8 Conference regular season schedule with a perfect 8-0 record after sweeps of Ithaca College and Nazareth College on Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y.
This is the second-straight year that Stevens has put together an unblemished conference slate and the Ducks will host the Empire 8 Championship on November 7-8.
Stevens (27-4) topped Nazareth (21-8) in its opener of the tri-match, 25-20, 25-11, 25-23, and then blanked Ithaca (20-10), 25-22, 25-20, 25-14, to earn the top seed in the Empire 8 tournament.
The Ducks have now won eight matches in a row after their 11-match winning streak was snapped on October 11.
Stevens 3, Nazareth 0The Ducks hit at a superb rate of .300 against Nazareth with 44 kills and just 11 errors on 100 attempts and held the Golden Flyers to just a .156 percentage. Stevens also benefitted from 11 service errors by Nazareth and committed just three on its end of the court.
Sophomore
Mary Tobin (Boothwyn, Pa.) paced all players in kills with 18 and hitting percentage at .447 in the match. Tobin completed her double-double with 13 digs and a solo block.
Senior
Katie Hall (Midlothian, Va.) eclipsed the .400-mark in hitting percentage at .429 on seven kills in 14 swings and added two digs with a block. Freshman
Brianna Evans (Spokane, Wash.) reached double-digits in kills with 10 and hit .304 to go along with five digs and two blocks.
Senior
Ashley Castillo (Cresskill, N.J.) handed out a match-high 38 assists with 10 digs and two blocks, while junior
Annemarie Thomas (Durham, N.C.) recorded a match-best four blocks and chipped in four kills.
Freshman
Sydni Horner (Columbia, Md.) registered 18 digs to become the fourth Duck to post a match-high in five categories against Nazareth. Sophomore
Christina Sciarra (Montclair, N.J.) added four kills.
The Ducks never trailed in the second set. In the third set, the Ducks and Golden Flyers were knotted up 15 times and traded leads on six different occasions.
Stevens 3, Ithaca 0 In the nightcap, the Ducks once again held a distinct edge in hitting percentage, .255 to .094, and totaled 12 block assists. Stevens was almost equally as impressive in kills as its opener with 40 against Ithaca with just 13 errors.
Tobin once again tallied a match-best in kills with 16 and guided the Ducks in hitting percentage at .361. She also scored on three service aces.
Evans was next in line in kills with eight, and added four blocks and four digs. Hall turned away five kill attempts by the Bombers with five digs and three kills.
Castillo handed out 34 more assists and posted four digs with three kills in nine tries. Horner contributed 14 more digs, while junior
Catie Shelton (Central Square, N.Y.) chipped in nine digs.
Sciarra finished the match with six kills and two digs.
The Ducks concluded their regular season with the NYS Regional Challenge at home on October 31 and November 1. Stevens opens with Rowan University and No. 16 Clarkson University on the 31st at 4 and 8 p.m. In the regular season finale on November 1, the Ducks will entertain the University of Rochester at 12 p.m. and then play Montclair State University at 4 p.m.
