CAZENOVIA – Senior Morgan Burke became the new career record holder in blocks on Saturday, posting her 220th career total block, as the Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Volleyball team earned a 22-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-17 victory over Alfred State before closing the weekend with a 16-25, 16-25, 25-23, 16-25 loss to Elmira. Burke, who holds the single season record for blocks with 85, passed the previous career mark of 217 set by Elizabeth Douress from 2007-10.
Mount Saint Mary 3 – Alfred State 1
After dropping the first set against the Pioneers, the Mount rallied for three straight set wins to pick up their second straight win to open the season. The Mount evened the match with 13 kills in the second frame and pulled in front 2-1 after hitting .300 with 10 winners in the third stanza. The Knights closed the match with seven winners in the fourth frame to move to 2-0 on the season.
Freshman Grace Riddle led the offensive attack in the victory with a career-high 17 kills for the Knights. She hit an efficient .438 in the contest, adding a pair of service aces and a total block. Riddle closed out a double-double effort with 15 digs for the Mount.
Junior Danielle Kralik also posted a double-double for the Knights, putting away 11 kills and lifting 13 digs. Kralik hit .310 in the match, adding three service aces and a pair of blocks.
Burke moved to within one block of matching the career record against the Pioneers with a team-high six blocks in the match. She rounded out the win with seven kills and added a dig.
Freshman Fran Cammarata handed out a career-high 22 assists in the match for the Knights, with Emily Mazzurco finishing up with 16 helpers, three aces and five digs. Alyssa Barbara led the way for the Mount on the backline with 27 digs.
Alfred State was led by nine kills from Kiara Perkins who added 30 digs. Alyssa Fox led all players in the contest with 33 digs, with Jordan McCooey handing out a match-high 24 assists.
Overall, Mount Saint Mary held the edge in kills 39-33, while the Pioneers took the advantage in service aces 11-10. Total team blocks in the contest were even at 8-8.
Elmira 3 – Mount Saint Mary 1
The Knights suffered their first loss of the season in the final match of the weekend. The Mount hit only .114 against the Eagles with Elmira hitting .244 and recording 20 more winners.
Burke moved into first all-time in blocks in the contest with four in the tilt and rounded out the day with eight kills, hitting .368, two digs and an ace.
Riddle once again led the Mount in winners with nine adding a team-high three service aces and matching the team-high in digs with 17. Kralik added five kills in the loss to go along with three digs and a pair of blocks.
Mazzurco led the team in assists for the second time in three outings with 19 helpers to go along with four kills and 10 digs. Cammarata handed out 10 helpers and lifted three digs, while Barbara matched the team-high with 17 digs for the Knights.
Elmira was led in the win by a match-high 17 kills from Lauren Smith with Amelia Martin putting away 10 kills and lifting a match-high 20 digs. Kassi Hastings closed a strong match leading all players with 49 assists to go along with 12 digs.
Elmira finished the day with a 52-32 advantage in kills, while blocks were even at 8-8 and service aces were equal at 5-5.
Saturday’s split moves Mount Saint Mary to 2-1 overall on the season. Next up for the Mount are matches with Alfred and Hamilton on September 6 as part of the New Paltz Hawks Invitational.
![](https://hudsonvalleypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Walden_Savings_Bank1.gif")
![](https://hudsonvalleypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/FDR-Web.jpg")
