ALFRED, NY – Like Friday, the Alfred University women's volleyball team split their double-header on Saturday during day two of the Alfred Volleyball Tournament in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena.
 
The Saxons (11-14, 3-3 Empire 8) topped University of Maine at Fort Kent in four sets, 26-24, 25-23, 25-19 and 25-18 in the morning match. Alfred University then took on Pitt-Bradford for the second time this season, having met them in the earlier matches of the season at the Vassar College invitational and falling in three sets.
 
The Saxons managed to fight back from a first set loss of 25-21 with rebounding second and third set scores of 26-24 and 25-22. The Panthers closed out the series with back-to-back victories in the fourth and fifth sets, winning 25-23 and 15-6, respectively.
 
Junior Aubrey Totsline (Fairport, NY/Fairport) led the Saxons on the day, contributing to a combined 91 kills with 89 set assists and two finishers of her own. The setter broke her career-best mark of 45 single match set assists with 49 in the morning meeting as she tallied both of her kills and added two aces in that match as well. Totsline has now had eight matches in a row with 20 or more assists and has registered an ace or more in all of her last 10 matches.
 
First year Amber Smith (Penfield, NY/Webster Schroeder) led Alfred University in both matches in points with 21.0 against the Bengals of Fort Kent and 19.5 against the Panthers. All of her points against Maine Fort Kent were from kills as she added a team-second 13 digs. She totaled 18 kills, once ace and one block assist against Pitt-Bradford.
 
Junior Heather D'Andrea (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) was the Saxons' second in point-command with her tying her career-best in points with 16.0 against Fort Kent and then breaking her career-best with 18.5 against Pitt-Bradford from 14 kills, four aces and one assisted block. She had 14 kills, an ace and two assisted blocks in the earlier match.
 
D'Andrea also broke the 20-dig mark for the second time this season and third in her career in the later match.
 
Senior Mary Lou Patnaude (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) and junior Jacquelynn Hicks (Greenville, NY/Greenville) tied on the day in points with 24.0 each.
 
The Saxons will next round out their regular season Empire 8 schedule when they host the Ducks of Stevens Institute of Technology and the Cardinals of St. John Fisher College on Saturday, October 22 in an Empire 8 Crossover.
 
Stevens and Fisher will play at 2:30 pm at Alfred State's gymnasium due to Alfred University's Presidential Inauguration. The Saxons will then face-off with Stevens at 5:00 pm in the Galanis Family Arena followed by the Senior Day match against Fisher in which Patnaude and Valerie Cardillo (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) will be honored in pre-match ceremonies.