ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team split a pair of matches with Houghton College on Thursday evening in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena, losing the first in four sets and sweeping the second in three.
 
The Saxons (1-1, 0-1 Empire 8) and Highlanders played the first match as an Empire 8 Conference match, with the set scores not favoring AU, 19-25, 25-15, 16-25 and 22-25. Alfred University topped the Highlanders in three sets in the non-conference matchup, winning 25-13, 25-14 and 25-22.
 
"The result isn't what we were hoping for but I am very pleased with where we are at," Head Coach Dakota Pruiss said. "Houghton is very well-coached and was second in the conference last year so to split matches with them is a good start."
 
First Match:
 
First-year Honor Edmands (Reno, NV/Reno) was 1.5 points away from tying a match-high as she led the Saxons with 13.0 points from 12 kills and two block assists. She added four digs to help on the defensive side of the ball. Senior Sarah Raeman (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) followed with 10.0 points from nine kills and two block assists. Up front, first-year Fiona McNeil (Fayettefill, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) had 7.0 points with 3.0 coming from blocks, having four assisted and one solo as she added four kills on 12 attempts with no errors.
 
Junior Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) had 26 set assists for the Saxons. Defensively, AU was led by sophomore Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) with 18 digs while first-year Jamie Chun (Hilo, HI/Hilo) followed with 14 and Burns tacked on 12.
 
Second Match:
 
Edmands earned the match-high score of 9.0 points with seven kills, a solo block and two block assists. She was closely followed by sophomore Rylee Russin (Broomfield, CO/Broomfield) with 8.5 points and Kayle Hatfield (Descanso, CA/Granite Hills) with 8.0 points. Raeman totaled 7.0 points in the win. The Saxons' hitters kept the mistakes to a minimum as they only had 10 on 96 attempts with a team total of 31 kills.
 
Hatfield led the Saxons' backrow with 13 digs while Ortiz added 11. Burns had a team-high 10 set assists while Fanning seven.
 
"I think Darian [Ortiz] elevates our game. I was very impressed with her entire night from start to end," Coach Pruiss said. "I was also very excited about Jamie's [Chun] defensive efforts and Fiona's [McNeil] ability to score for us."
 
The Saxons will next stay in the Galanis Arena as they host a single Empire 8 match against Utica College on Sunday, March 21 at 3:00pm.