ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team opened the 2021 fall season on the road at Rochester Institute of Technology, falling in three sets on Wednesday evening.
 
The Saxons (0-1, 0-0 Empire 8) had a tough two opening sets, dropping them 11-25 and 12-25 before battling back for a close, 22-25 third set.
 
Honor Edmands (Reno, NV/Reno) led with 6.0 points from five kills and two block assists. Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) totaled six digs from the back row. Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) totaled nine assists and two aces, rounding out the top performances for the Saxons.
 
"There was a lot of excitement to be back on the court after having to play a season in the spring," Head Coach Dakota Pruiss said. "We have areas that we need to revisit in order for us to move forward as a team and especially with the quick turnaround, going into a three-match weekend."
 
The third set was the highlight for those watching as AU and the Tigers exchanged points throughout. Both teams couldn't build strong momentum without the other closing in as the third set was tied nine times with four Saxon leads. The back-and-forth continued all the way up to a 15-13 Alfred University lead after a Kailee Vanderlinden (Salt Lake City, UT/Riverton) ace. RIT scored six points in a row to build a 19-15 advantage as the Tigers continued the energy to close out the set and the match, despite the Saxons pushing back to within two points, 21-23 after a kill from Samara-Jade Mok (Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany/Ramstein) and 22-24 after a kill from Edmands.
 
The Saxons will next head into the weekend with their home-opener against SUNY Canton on Friday, September 3 at 5:30pm in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena, kicking off the Saxon Classic. They then take on SUNY Potsdam on Saturday at 11:00am and Penn State Behrend at 5:00pm, ending the weekend.