Devils rebound after streak stopped
Sports Information Department – 112 Dods Hall
Phone (716) 673-3100 / Fax (716) 673-3136
CONTACT: Jerry Reilly,
Sports Information Director
DATE: Sat., Oct. 31, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women's volleyball
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- Fredonia State's winning streak came to an end Saturday in the first of two matches at the Vassar Invitational.
Having won their previous 14 matches, the Blue Devils fell to host Vassar Brewers, 3-1, by scores of 25-23, 25-19, 25-15 and 25-20.
The Blue Devils rebounded with a 3-2 victory over the University of Rochester in Saturday's noon match.
The first set featured seven ties, the last three at 18-18, 21-21 and 23-23. The Blue Devils put the match away with back-to-back kills from sophomore middle blocker Chelsea Senn (Hamburg/Frontier), who led her team with nine kills in the set. The Brewers held a 21-18 lead following a Blue Devil setting error, but the visitors responded with a kill by junior middle blocker Kaitlin Erdmann (Randolph) and back-to-back kills by freshman outside hitter Lindsey Olson (Portville).
Vassar evened the match 1-1 with a 25-19 win in the second set. Down 19-13, the Blue Devils rallied to within 22-19 after a kill by Erdmann but got no closer. The Brewers capitalized on a dozen Fredonia State miscues in the third set to earn comfortable 25-15 third set victory, and took control of the fourth and deciding set by jumping out to a 9-1 lead and was coasting with a 15-5 lead through the middle portion. Behind the play of Erdmann, junior middle blocker Brittany Christian (Jamestown), and senior outside hitter Rebecca Zimmerman (Jamestown), the Blue Devils sliced the Vassar lead down to two points twice, at 18-16 and 20-18, before the Brewers pulled away for good.
Sophomore setter Brittany Lis (Lancaster) was the architect of 33 set assists while sophomore libero Sarah Zureck (Lancaster/St. Mary's of Lancaster) had 26 digs.
The Blue Devils improved to 24-11 with a 25-22, 23-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-13 victory over Rochester. Edmann led the way with 15 kills, Senn had one solo block and five block assists, Lis 30 assists, and Zureck 33 digs.
At the end of competition later Saturday, Erdmann was named to the all-tournament team.
Next up for the Blue Devils is a trip to New Paltz for the SUNYAC championship tournament. Worthy of a first-round bye as the No. 1 seed from the West Division, the Blue Devils automatically advanced to the 6 p.m. Friday semifinal. They will face the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal match between Cortland and Geneseo.
Fredonia State is the defending SUNYAC champ.