NEW PALTZ, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team split a pair of matches on Friday evening at the SUNY New Paltz Hawks Invitational.
 
The Saxons (3-3, 0-0 Empire 8) fell in the weekend-opener to SUNY Oneonta in three sets and then went a full, five sets to top Mount St. Mary College (NY) in the nightcap.
 
What we saw today was a product of a week of practice that didn't have the most focus. Our own errors were what a strong Oneonta team took advantage of and they also caused some hiccups within the match against Mount St. Mary," Head Coach Dakota Pruiss said. "That being said, I'm happy that we snuck a win out to keep our record at .500 and to continue to learn and change an outcome late in a match."
 
Match One:
Alfred University – 0 | SUNY Oneonta – 3
AU Set Scores: (15-25, 16-25, 19-25)
 
The first match started out with a back-and-forth struggle between the Red Dragons and the Saxons as Oneonta got out to an early 7-4 lead. The Saxons responded with three, unanswered points with a kill from Sarah Raeman (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) and a service ace from Sarah Huzyk (North Chili, NY/Churchville-Chili). The Red Dragons responded with a 10-1 run to up the score, 17-8 en route to closing out the set.
 
Despite a handful of ties and a few strong scoring runs from the Saxons in the second set, they were unsuccessful at claiming a lead against the resilient Oneonta squad. It wasn't until the third set that the Saxons earned their first set lead of the match. They started out with a 2-0 lead after a bad serve from Oneonta and an ace from Rylee Russin (Broomfield, CO/Broomfield). Alfred University built upon that bit of momentum with an 8-4 run to make it an 11-4 advantage for the purple & gold.
 
The Saxon momentum was halted with an Oneonta 11-2 run to take and hold a lead over the Saxons, 15-13. From that point on, AU was unable to string together a three-point or more spree with the Red Dragons closing out the match for the non-conference sweep.
 
Match Two:
Alfred University – 3 | Mount St. Mary College (NY) – 2
AU Set Scores: (20-25, 17-25, 25-16, 25-21, 15-9)
 
The Saxons were down in the match, 0-2 going into the third set on Friday night. To begin the third set, Alfred University got out to a 12-4 lead by Raeman's four service aces during a 7-1 run. She totaled six in the match which was one ace away from the school record for five set matches. The record is currently held by Danielle Van Cott with seven against Utica College in 2008.
 
Alfred University and Mount St. Mary battled back and forth until AU went on a 7-2 run at the end of the set to take it, 25-16.
 
In the fourth set, the Knights managed to gain the lead, 9-8 before the Saxons responded with an 8-3 run to take a 16-12 advantage. Mount St. Mary managed to get within one point of tying the set , 19-20 before two self-mistakes and three Saxon kills ended the set, forcing the fifth and deciding set.
 
The fifth set was all Alfred University as they took the lead on the first volley and never allowed even a tie.
 
In total, Raeman led Alfred University in scoring with 20.0 points on the night including a career-smashing-best of 17.5 in the nightcap. Huzyk led AU in digs with 30 while Sarah Baty (Portola, CA/Portola) had 29 set assists to lead the team.
 
The Saxons will next take on the hosts of the tournament, New Paltz on Saturday, September 7 at 11a.m. before a 3p.m. match against Hamilton College to close out the weekend of non-conference matches.