Brewers Clinch Regular Season Liberty League Title

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The Vassar College women’s volleyball team earned a Liberty League regular season title on Saturday afternoon, coming from behind to top Clarkson University in a thrilling five-set victory in conference action from Williamson Sports Center. Vassar dropped its Liberty League finale with a five-set loss to Skidmore College in the night cap.

The Brewers earned a 14-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-21 and 18-16 victory over the Golden Knights to clinch the top spot in the Liberty League, while dropping a five-setter with the hosting Thoroughbreds 16-25, 23-25, 25-13, 25-19 and 15-13. The regular season title comes with the honor of hosting the Liberty League Tournament on November 4-5.
Vassar will take on the No. 4 seed Rochester Institute of Technology in the semifinals Friday, while Clarkson will battle Union College in the other semifinal matchup. Times of each match are to be announced in the coming days, with the winners earning a spot in the Liberty League Championship match at 4 p.m. Saturday. All tournament matches will be played in Kenyon Hall.

“Despite going 2-2 on the weekend, we are obviously thrilled to have earned the opportunity to play for a League title at home,” said head coach Jonathan Penn. “They fought the hardest when it mattered the most and I couldn’t be prouder of their effort.”

Vassar 3, Clarkson 2

The Brewers faced four match points in the deciding fifth set, but fended off all four and earned the win thanks to a stuff block by Devan Gallagher andAlex Sams. Both teams hit the ball well, combining for 126 terminations in the match.

In the final game, Clarkson took four of the first five points to force head coach Jonathan Penn to take a timeout. Vassar pulled even at five on an ace by Annie MacMillan, and traded points with CU all the way through 11-11. VC took a 12-11 lead on a block by Colette Cambey and Gabby Miller, but after a timeout by the Knights, CU strung together three straight to take a 14-12 lead.

Freshman Jane McLeod posted one of her 20 kills on the next point, and Miller and Sams helped each other out on a block to knot the score at 14. After a kill by Rachel Reusch put VC’s back against the wall once again, McLeod added another termination to tie the match at 15. CU once again had a chance to clinch the win at 16-15, but Miller put a ball away to deadlock the score at 16. Gallagher put VC on top for good with a kill, setting up the match-clinching block.

Vassar struggled early in the match offensively while the Golden Knights did not, as CU chalked up 16 kills and no errors to earn the early match edge. VC rallied back to hit .323 in the second set, leading 11-1 before CU chalked up a 10-1 run to make the score 14-12. With the score 21-18, VC posted the last four points to tie the match at one.

The third game saw a match-high nine errors from Vassar, as Clarkson chalked up seven of the last eight points to earn a 25-21 win. The fourth game was close through the early going, but a 6-0 spurt through the middle of the game propelled the match to the fifth set, thanks to a set clinching kill from McLeod.

Gallagher chalked up a career-best 26 kills in the win, hitting .281 on 64 attempts, while also posting three blocks. McLeod also swung 51 times, adding 20 finishes and nine digs.

Miller was also fantastic for Vassar in the clutch moments, posting 10 kills, 12 digs and three assisted blocks. MacMillan continued to lead to offense, posting a career-best 58 assists to go with two aces, eight digs and four kills.

Freshman Jordan Schreeder had 13 digs, and Sierra Tobin tied for the match-high with 23 defensive saves. Sophomore Lauren Ninkovich also registered a match-best four service aces, adding 12 digs. VC hit .228 for the match, while CU attacked at a .265 rate for the match.

Skidmore 3, Vassar 2

The Brewers saw the offense struggle in the nightcap against Skidmore, as they hit .083 for the match in dropping a five-set thriller. Skidmore was strong at the net defensively, posting 13 blocks including seven assisted blocks by Katy Ehnstrom.

VC saw Gallagher add 15 more kills against Skidmore, while junior Bria Corham posted 11 kills and 13 digs, adding four service aces. McLeod added another double-digit termination total with 11, while Tobin led the team with 14 digs. Schreeder had 13 digs, three assists and two aces, while Ninkovich added three aces and five digs.

MacMillan once again had a strong game with five kills, 37 assists and seven digs, and Alex Sams contributed four kills and four blocks.

Ehnstrom posted a match-high 17 kills in the win for Skidmore (14-15, 5-7 Liberty League), while Caite Canfield posted 14 kills and 10 digs. Teammate Bailey Hutchins had a triple double in the contest with 11 kills, 26 assists and 10 digs, and Marcella Familiar chalked up 23 digs.
Vassar (18-9, 9-3 Liberty League) will return to non-conference action Wednesday, October 26 on the road at New Paltz, taking on the Hawks at 7 p.m. in the Hawk Center.