HOUGHTON, NY – Sound the Horns! The Alfred University women's volleyball team came back from a 4-10, fifth set deficit to earn its first Empire 8 Conference Tournament win in school history, ousting Houghton College, 3-2 on Tuesday night in the Neilson Center.
 
The Saxons (5-5, 3-3 Empire 8) won the first and fourth sets before topping the Highlanders (4-5, 3-3 Empire 8) in the fifth. Tuesday's set scores were 25-20, 23-25, 19-25, 25-21 and 15-12 in favor of AU. The Saxons snapped a 31-year streak of not beating Houghton at Houghton as the last win was also a 3-2 road win for AU in 1990. "Tonight was a truly emotional match," Head Coach Dakota Pruiss said. "Whenever you play Houghton, you respect the fact that they don't give their opponents a single point. You have to earn everything and we were able to do that tonight. I am very proud of the grit and resiliency we showed against such a tough team and to do it in the postseason is such an amazing feeling. This historic win gives us some wind in our sails for a tough semi-final opponent of St. John Fisher."
 
Senior Sarah Raeman (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) led the match in kills and points as she scored the match-clinching kill off an assist from Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) that capped off an 11-2 run after being down in the fifth set. Raeman totaled 17 kills on 45 attacks with only three errors (.311 pct.) while adding two aces, four block assists and one block solo. She tacked on three digs as well.
 
First-year Honor Edmands (Reno, NV/Reno) followed with 16.5 points off of 12 kills, two aces and a match-tying-high five block assists. The points and kills for Edmands were collegiate career-highs as she had her second match in a row with her collegiate-best of 5.0 total blocks and a college-best in block assists. Rylee Russin (Broomfield, CO/Broomfield) also had double-digit points with 11.0 from nine kills, two block assists and one service ace as she finished with a double-double as she added 15 digs.
 
Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) had a match-high 27 digs as she added a team-high four aces. Jamie Chun (Hilo, HI/Hilo) followed with 21 digs and one ace as both recorded more digs than the entire Highlander roster. "Sarah [Raeman] showed us again what it means to lead this team. Offensively she was outstanding tonight," Coach Pruiss said. "Darian [Ortiz] also was an emotional leader for us, not only due to her stellar defensive performance, but her unwillingness to lose this match."
 
Burns led AU with 31 set assists while Julia Fanning (Wallkill, NY/Wallkill Senior) followed with seven and a match-leading hitting percentage of .750 off of three kills from four attacks with no errors.
 
The first, second, fourth and fifth sets were all very close. In the first set, there were three lead changes as Houghton started the set with a 4-1 lead before AU took it over at the sixth point. The Highlands fought back to take a 16-15 lead before the Saxons were the first to reach 18 points and closed out the 25-20 set. The second set had five lead changes as Houghton closed out to tie the match, 1-1 before taking the overall lead, 2-1 after a rough third set for Alfred University.
 
In the fourth set, Alfred University retook the lead at 7-6  and never gave it up again, winning 25-21 and tying the match into a fifth set showdown.
 
"I also want to publicly acknowledge the contributions of MyKayla Deyarmin (Smethport, PA/Smethport Area), Corinne Ferguson (Chesapeake, OH/Chesapeake) and Julia [Fanning]." Coach Pruiss said. "Without their performances, we wouldn't have enjoyed this outcome and those three deserve the credit of coming in and excelling at crucial moments."
 
The Saxons will next head to #1 seeded St. John Fisher College on Thursday, April 22 at 7:00pm for the second round of the Empire 8 Championship Tournament.