ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team (7-20, Empire 8 5-3) earned its second consecutive berth the Empire 8 Conference Championships and will face the #1-seeded Stevens Ducks in Hoboken, NJ on Saturday, November 3 at 12PM.
 
AU will face Stevens on Saturday, November 3 at 12PM in Hoboken, NJ in the first round of the Empire 8 Conference Championships. That match will be immediately followed by the matchup between #2 St. John Fisher College and #3 Nazareth College Golden Flyers. The winner of both matches will advance to the championship match on Sunday to be held at 1 PM.

Site: Stevens Institute of Technology | Canavan Arena

2018 Empire 8 Women's Volleyball Championship Schedule
Saturday, November 3 - Semifinals
12pm – No. 4 Alfred at #1 Stevens                             Live Stream | Live Stats
2:30pm – No. 3 St. John Fisher vs. #2 Nazareth

Sunday, November 4 - Championship Final
1pm – Final                                                                 Live Stream | Live Stats
 
Alfred University in the Empire 8 Rankings (Conference Matches Only)

Category	Ranking in the E8	Statistic
Digs Per Set	1st	18.17
Total Digs	2nd	527
Hitting Percentage	4th	0.157
Kills	5th	332
Kills Per Set	4th	11.45
Assists Per Set	4th	11.0
Blocks Per Set	4th	1.24
Total Blocks	4th	36

 
Individuals in the Empire 8 Rankings (Conference Matches Only)

Name	Category	Ranking	Statistic
Amber Smith	Kills	1st	157
Amber Smith	Kills Per Set	1st	5.41
Amber Smith	Points	1st	170
Amber Smith	Points Per Set	1st	5.86
Amanda Burns	Assists	2nd	292
Amanda Burns	Assists Per Set	2nd	10.07
Rachael Moravansky	Service Aces	6th	17
Rachael Moravansky	Service Aces Per Set	4th	0.59
Karina Morling	Total Blocks	1st	23
Karina Morling	Solo Blocks	1st	11
Karina Morling	Blocks Per Set	1st	0.85
Sarah Huzyk	Digs	2nd	168
Sarah Huzyk	Digs Per Set	1st	5.79

 
Saxon Leaders
Junior Amber Smith (Penfield, NY/Webster Schroeder) led the Saxons in points (410.5), points per set (4.46), kills (380), kills per set (4.13), and hitting percentage (0.206). Over the course of her career, she has 1,109 kills for the Saxons, which is 422 kills more than any other AU women's volleyball player dating back to 2006.
 
Sophomore setter, Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush), leads the Saxons with 736 assists during her first campaign with AU. Dating back to 2006, Burns had the third-most assists in a season, trailing only Aubrey Totsline '18. Totsline currently holds the school record for career assists (2,976) as well as assists in a three-set match (38) and assists in a five-set match (56). She previously held on to the school record for assists in a four-set match but Burns set a new school standard with 54 assists in a four-set match this year against Hartwick.
 
Junior Sarah Huzyk (North Chili, NY/Churchville-Chili) leads AU on defense with 344 digs (4.78 digs per set). She is closely followed by Elisabeth Estep (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) with 304 digs and Smith with 244 digs.
 
First-year Karina Morling (Canisteo, NY/Canisteo-Greenwood) led the Saxons with 38.0 total blocks in 2018 including 17 solo blocks and 21 block assists. The 6'2" blocker hails from only 12 miles down the road at Canisteo-Greenwood High School.
 
Steering into the Region
During the 2018 season, the Saxons played six matches against teams ranked in the top 10 of their respective regions, dropping all six matches. However, when it came to conference time, the Saxons were prepped to take on their schedule, finishing 5-3 in Empire play.
 
Making Ourselves at Home
The Saxons posted a 4-6 record on the road during the 2018 season while going 1-3 at home and 2-11 at neutral sites. Four of AU's seven wins came on the road against Sage (3-0), Elmira (3-1), Utica (3-1) and at Keuka (3-1). The Saxons will be playing at Stevens on Saturday at 12PM.
 
Empire 8 Championship History
This is the third time AU has earned a berth to the Empire 8 Conference Championships and second in a row. The Saxons have made it to the Empire 8 postseason in 2000, 2017 and 2018 in school history.
 
The 2000 AU women's volleyball team fell to Nazareth in the opening round of the tournament while the 2017 Saxons fell to #1-seeded Stevens in three sets despite an all-around performance by Smith who tallies six kills, 17 digs and one service ace.
 
The Saxons will look to earn their first win in the Empire 8 tournament against the second-ranked team in the New York Region, Stevens.
 
The Saxons Beyond the Empire 8 Championship Tournament
AU has made two appearances to the postseason tournaments beyond the Empire 8 tournament since 1999. The first was the only NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship in school history following the 1999 season. During that year, AU went 28-13 falling to Gettysburg 3-0 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
One year later, the Saxons made their first trip to the Eastern Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament in program history following a 26-15 overall record and 7-6 record in Empire 8 play. AU took a 3-2 loss to Middlebury in the matchup on the road.
 
The Saxons have also made five New York State tournaments in program history, maintaining a 6-10 overall record in those matches. AU's most recent appearance in the tournament came in 1999, going 2-1 in round robin play, defeating Hartwick 3-1 and SUNY Oneonta 3-0.
 
Last Matchup Against Each Opponent
#1 – Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks – L, 3-0 - 9/22/2018
Box Score
The Saxons (0-14, 0-2 Empire 8) fell in three sets to Stevens and four to Nazareth. They lost to the Ducks with set scores of 17-25, 18-25 and 14-25. In the nightcap, Alfred University battled to extremely close set scores of 25-23, 21-25, 15-25 and 23-25.
 
Junior outside hitter Amber Smith (Penfield, NY/Webster Schroeder) led both matches and all three teams in kills with 14 against Stevens and 21 against Nazareth. First-year Karina Morling(Canisteo, NY/Canisteo-Greenwood) followed in her first collegiate appearance after coming off an injury as she totaled 17 kills with a day-high of nine against Stevens. She hit a .271 against both powerhouse opponents in the Empire 8 with a .300 against the Ducks and a .250 versus the Golden Flyers. She also recorded two solo blocks and an assisted block against Naz and one assisted block and a dig against Stevens.
 
Defensively, junior Sarah Huzyk (North Chili, NY/Churchville-Chili) led AU with 34 digs with a best of 20 against Nazareth. Senior Elisabeth Estep (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) followed with 29 (17 against Naz).
 
Against the Golden Flyers, both sophomore Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) and first-year Rachael Moravansky (Mount Airy, MD/Linganore) had three aces while Huzyk posted two and Estep had one. Burns had 32 set assists in the nightcap while recording 26 in the morning match. Sophomore Julia Fanning (Wallkill, NY/Wallkill Senior) followed with four assists but focused more on defense in the second match, tallying seven digs.
 
#2 – St. John Fisher College Cardinals – L, 3-0 – 10/6/2018
Box Score
The Saxons (2-16, 2-3 Empire 8) defeated the host institution, Sage Colleges in three sets while falling in three to Fisher. Alfred University topped the Gators with set scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 28-26. In the nightcap, the Cardinals defeated AU 25-18, 26-24 and 25-15.

"I'm happy about the split today. We came here to do what we wanted and that Sage win is going to put us in a good position to claim either the third or fourth spot in the Empire 8 Tournament," Head Coach Dakota 'Dak' Pruiss said. "I don't think we played as cleanly as we would have liked against Sage but what we did do was to capitalize on their errors and minimize ours."

Alfred University was led by junior Amber Smith (Penfield, NY/Webster Schroeder) with 33.0 points on the day. She had 22.5 points in the morning match from 20 kills, one solo block and three assisted. She also had five digs in the match. Senior Elisabeth Estep (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) followed with 13.5 points against Sage from 10 kills, a match-high three aces and one block assist. She had a total of 16.5 points on Saturday. Estep recorded the Saxons' only double-double of the day as she also had 17 digs in the first match.

Junior Sarah Huzyk (North Chili, NY/Chili-Churchville) led Alfred University, defensively, as she totaled 37 digs on the day with a high of 23 against Sage. Sophomore Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) recorded 36 set assists against the Gators and 21 against the Cardinals. First-years Karina Morling (Canisteo, NY/Canisteo-Greenwood) and Lainey Arneson (Yorktown, VA/Tabb) put up good numbers at the net as Morling had one solo block and five assisted while Arneson had two solos and one assist.
 
#3 – Nazareth College Golden Flyers – L, 3-0 - 9/22/2018
Box Score
The Saxons (0-14, 0-2 Empire 8) fell in three sets to Stevens and four to Nazareth. They lost to the Ducks with set scores of 17-25, 18-25 and 14-25. In the nightcap, Alfred University battled to extremely close set scores of 25-23, 21-25, 15-25 and 23-25.
 
Junior outside hitter Amber Smith (Penfield, NY/Webster Schroeder) led both matches and all three teams in kills with 14 against Stevens and 21 against Nazareth. First-year Karina Morling(Canisteo, NY/Canisteo-Greenwood) followed in her first collegiate appearance after coming off an injury as she totaled 17 kills with a day-high of nine against Stevens. She hit a .271 against both powerhouse opponents in the Empire 8 with a .300 against the Ducks and a .250 versus the Golden Flyers. She also recorded two solo blocks and an assisted block against Naz and one assisted block and a dig against Stevens.
 
Defensively, junior Sarah Huzyk (North Chili, NY/Churchville-Chili) led AU with 34 digs with a best of 20 against Nazareth. Senior Elisabeth Estep (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) followed with 29 (17 against Naz).
 
Against the Golden Flyers, both sophomore Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) and first-year Rachael Moravansky (Mount Airy, MD/Linganore) had three aces while Huzyk posted two and Estep had one. Burns had 32 set assists in the nightcap while recording 26 in the morning match. Sophomore Julia Fanning (Wallkill, NY/Wallkill Senior) followed with four assists but focused more on defense in the second match, tallying seven digs.