HOBOKEN, N.J. (September 20, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team picked up a pair of Empire 8 Conference victories on Saturday in Canavan Arena to improve its overall record to 10-3 and Empire 8 mark to 3-0.
The Ducks took down Elmira College in straight sets to begin the tri-match and then battled with Houghton College in a five-set thriller that lasted over two hours.
Stevens 3, Elmira 0 Stevens trailed just once in the first set, 2-1, but quickly turned that deficit into a 6-3 lead on a kill from sophomore
Mary Tobin (Boothwyn, Pa.), a block assist by Tobin and senior
Katie Hall (Midlothian, Va.) and a service ace from Hall.
The Ducks then built their advantage to 12-7 on four kills and an ace from freshman
Sydni Horner (Columbia, Md.). Hall, Tobin, senior
Ashley Castillo (Cresskill, N.J.) and junior
Annemarie Thomas (Durham, N.C.) notched the kills.
After a timeout, freshman
Brianna Evans (Spokane, Wash.) tallied back-to-back points on a block and ace to go up, 14-8. Elmira scored three of the next five points, but sophomore
Christina Sciarra (Montclair, N.J.) gave Stevens a seven-point edge at 18-11 with consecutive points.
Stevens would go on to close out the first set with a 25-19 win.
In the second set, the Ducks jumped out to a 7-1 advantage on a pair of kills by Tobin, a kill each from Thomas and Castillo, along with a block assist, and an ace by Hall.
Elmira picked up the next two points to pull to within four points at 7-3, but Stevens ran off 10 of the next 15 points to build a nine-point cushion, 17-8. The Soaring Eagles would fight back to a 19-13 difference, only to witness Stevens close out the set on a 6-2 run. Horner highlighted the end of the second set with a pair of aces.
Stevens hit .524 in that set with 11 kills and no errors in 21 attempts.
The Ducks continued to hit well in the final set, .444, and cruised to the sweep with a 25-9 victory. Sciarra notched four kills in the set, while juniors
Catie Shelton (Central Square, N.Y.) and
Kristen Herchenroder (Breezy Point, N.Y.) each had two.
Hall paced Stevens with eight kills, four blocks, four digs and two aces, while hitting .429 overall. Sciarra hit .600 on six kills in 10 swings, while Tobin notched five, and Thomas, Castillo and Herchenroder each had four.
Castillo was perfect in attacks and handed out 13 assists. Shelton dished out 15 assists in two sets to propel the offense. Horner recorded 10 digs which was a match-best.
Stevens hit .364 overall in the match and committed just eight errors in 77 attempts with 38 kills, while Elmira swung at just a .058 percentage.
Stevens 3, Houghton 2The Ducks found themselves in a highly contested match to conclude the afternoon at home against the Highlanders. The conference foes traded set victories, 26-24, 23-25, 25-16, 23-25, 20-18, throughout the contest and were tied on 35 separate occasions.
Stevens finished the match with 77 kills and a .242 hitting percentage to go along with 89 digs and 10 total blocks. Houghton countered with 102 digs, 54 kills, eight aces and seven blocks.
Individually, seven Ducks posted remarkable performances.
Castillo set a new school single-match record with 63 assists and added 12 digs. Horner shattered her previous career-best mark in digs with 40, while Tobin notched a match-high 24 kills on a .323 hitting percentage and 15 digs.
The 63 helpers from Castillo, along with an additional nine from three others also set a new school standard for a single-match record.
Sciarra was close behind in the kills department with 23 and swung at .367 clip which was a match-high. She also tallied five block assists and scored 26.5 points. Evans reached double digits in kills and digs with 16 and 10, respectively.
Hall completed her afternoon with eight kills, three aces and two block assists for 12 points, and chipped in three digs and two assists. Thomas put down seven block assists and one solo with four kills.
Four of the five sets were nail-biters, but it all came down to the decisive fifth set. After the Ducks led, 10-9, Houghton scored four of the next five points to push the match to near decision at 13-11. Sciarra and Tobin pounded down back-to-back kills to tie things up at 13, but the Highlanders scored next to set up one of their five match points in the set.
Houghton held match-point from 14-13 all the way to 18-17. Each time the Ducks faced defeat, they came up with crucial kills – two from Evans and one apiece from Tobin and Sciarra.
Once the match reached its 35th tie at 18-18 in the fifth set, Thomas and Sciarra turned away the Highlanders at the net with consecutive blocks to secure victory.
Stevens returns to action on September 26-27 for the Stevens Invitational. The Ducks will first play Brooklyn College and Richard Stockton College on the 26th and then entertain Ramapo College and the United States Coast Guard Academy on the 27th.
All photos courtesy of Ward Horner. 
