ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team fell in Empire 8 action to visiting Houghton College on Tuesday evening in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena, 3-0.
 
The Saxons (6-18, 0-5 Empire 8) were led by Amber Smith (Penfield, NY/Webster Schroeder) with a match-high 17.0 points. She recorded a match-high 15 kills and added an ace and two block assists. She also led the team in digs with eight.
 
Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) totaled 16 set assists on the evening to lead Alfred University.
 
The Saxons fell in the match in three sets with set scores of 16, 18 and 17.
 
In the first set, AU managed to build a 7-4 lead but gave up an 11-1 run to fall behind, 15-8 to the visiting Highlanders. The Saxons responded with a 5-1 run to bring it back to a three-point deficit, 16-13 but couldn't hold the momentum the remainder of the set.
 
The Saxons brought some life in the third set, holding leads at multiple early instances with the last being a 10-9 edging. Houghton scored on four, unanswered kills and a service ace to take the lead, 14-10. Alfred responded with three, unanswered kills from Smith on assists from Sarah Baty (Portola, CA/Portola) to make it a one-point set, in hopes of forcing a fourth set showdown.
 
After exchanging blows back-and-forth, the score sat, 17-16 in favor of the guests before an 8-1 run closed out the conference match with Houghton taking home the win.
 
The Saxons will next host Utica College and The Sage Colleges in their final Empire 8 matches of the season on Friday, October 25 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, October 26 at 1 p.m., respectively.