LATROBE, PA – The Alfred University women's volleyball team had a mirrored outcome from Friday's matches on Saturday with a split between Westminster College (PA) and Waynesburg University during the final day of the St. Vincent College Bearcat Challenge.
 
The Saxons (2-2, 0-0 Empire 8) won their first match and fell in the nightcap on Friday but then loss the morning match to Westminster but topped Waynesburg in the afternoon. All four matches of the weekend went extra sets as AU fell in four, 7-25, 26-24, 23-25, 14-25 to Westminster and won in five, 25-19, 23-25, 13-25, 25-12, 15-12 against Waynesburg.
 
"Overall, I am very happy with a 2-2 split on the weekend," Head Coach Dakota Pruiss said. "I am slightly regretful of how we came out flat against Westminster, who we knew to be one of the better teams at this tournament. However I think we learned that lesson and came out to win against a fiery Waynesburg squad."

Amber Smith (Penfield, NY/Webster Schroeder) was named to the Bearcat Challenge All-Tournament Team.
 
Match One:
Alfred University – 1 | Westminster College (PA) – 2
AU Set Scores: 7-25, 26-24, 23-25, 14-25
 
After an upsetting first set defeat, the Saxons returned fire in the second set against the Titans. AU quickly got out to a 9-2 lead after kills from Smith, Meg Maddalena (Portola, CA/Portola) and Sarah Raeman (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) with three assists from Julia Fanning (Wallkill, NY/Wallkill Senior) and one from Sarah Baty (Portola, CA/Portola). Raeman and Katie Geruso (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) teamed up for an assisted block in that run as well.
 
Westminster battled back to a one-point deficit at 12-11, though the Saxons never relinquished the lead, bringing it back to a 20-17 advantage. Two misplayed Saxon balls brought the score back to a one-point difference, 20-19. Rylee Russin (Broomfield, CO/Broomfield) killed the next point (Baty assist) to make it 21-19 before Westminster went on a 5-2 run to sit at the set-point, 24-23. Three attack errors in a row from the Titans gave AU its only set win of the match.
 
Smith led the Saxons with her third double-double in a row with 16 kills (totaled 16.0 points) and a season-high, 18 digs. Both statistical categories were team highs in the morning match. Sarah Huzyk (North Chili, NY/Churchville-Chili) followed with 17 digs while Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) posted 15 digs in her four sets of play.
 
Both Baty and Fanning shared play as the setters with Baty having 19 set assists while Fanning supplemented with 15. The Saxons didn't have a single solo block on the morning but combined for 14 block assists, led by Russin's four. Raeman, Maddalena and Geruso all had three each.
 
Match Two:
Alfred University – 3 | Waynesburg University – 2
AU Set Scores: 25-19, 23-25, 13-25, 25-12, 15-12
 
The weekend-closing match was a different story as the Saxons went to five sets after winning the first, but losing the second and third sets.
 
The first seven points of the first set were split between the two squads with Waynesburg having the advantage, 4-3. AU went on a run, 8-1 to pull ahead, 11-5 to establish the pace of the set as they added another large spree of answered points, scoring six to get a 17-8 lead. Waynesburg would battle back to within five points but never got the chance to get closer as a kill from Kayle Hatfield (Descanso, CA/Granite Hills) closed the set, 25-19 (Fanning assist).
 
The fourth set only saw multiple ties and lead changes. The most important lead change for the Saxons was when they were down, 16-17 before back-to-back kills from Raeman and Hatfield (Fanning assists) to make it 18-17, in favor of the purple & gold. Waynesburg responded with a kill of their own to tie the match up before Raeman tabbed another kill (Fanning assist) and a Waynesburg ball handling error made it 20-18.
 
Raeman, Hatfield, Maddalena and Lainey Arneson (Yorktown, VA/Tabb) all had kills in the final points with three assists from Baty and one from Fanning to close out the set and force a fifth period.
 
Once again, Waynesburg had the lead for the first half of the set, leading 11-8. Their 5-2 run was stopped by a kill from Russin (Baty assist), making it 11-9. Little did Waynesburg know that after their very next point that upped their lead to 12-9, they would not score another point from there on. Smith had one kill to start the match-winning, 6-0 run as an attack error by Waynesburg, a point awarded by the official, and three aces in a row from Russin gave AU the 3-2 match victory.
 
Smith had her fourth double-double of the season as she had another 18 digs and also posted 18 kills to lead the Saxons. She added three service aces and one block solo for 22.0 points. Russin led Alfred in aces with four while she tacked on six kills, one block solo and two block assists to follow Smith in points with 12.0. Maddalena had three block assists to lead AU in that category.
 
Baty had 23 set assists in last night's win over Allegheny College and hit her Saxon career-high again with another 23 against Waynesburg. Fanning smashed her previous career-high in set assists (was 16) as she had 21 in the weekend-closer. Huzyk had 15 digs to follow Smith in the match.
 
The Saxons will next travel to SUNY New Paltz for a two-day invitational on Friday, September 6. They will first face SUNY Oneonta at 4 p.m. before they take on Mount Saint Mary College (NY) at 6 p.m. On Saturday, they will face the hosts at 11 a.m. and then at 3 p.m., will close out with Hamilton College.