HOUGHTON, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team took to the road for an Empire 8 matchup at Houghton College on Wednesday evening but lost, 3-1 despite the second and fourth sets being decided by a total of five points.
 
The Saxons (6-8, 0-2 Empire 8) dropped the E8 contest with set scores of 25-15, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23. "We came out slow against an opponent who is not only well-coached but plays us with the respect to always bring it," Head Coach Dakota Pruiss said. "Hopefully we have learned to stop letting moments slide away this season but for now we are looking ahead to two tough opponents on Saturday."
 
Sarah Raeman (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) had the match-high in kills and points as she hit season-highs in six statistical categories. She totaled 20.5 points off of 18 kills as well as three block assists and one solo block and tacked on six digs. Her points, kills, block assists, total blocks and digs were all season-bests as well as her hitting percentage of .412, having only committed four errors on 34 attacks.
 
Out of the Saxons' 43 kills, 38 were tagged with an assists and 33 of those were from Amanda Burns (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush). Burns also got under 10 attacks while making an assisted stop at the net. She tacked on two aces for a total of 2.5 points on the evening.
 
Rylee Russin (Broomfield, CO/Broomfield) added 14.0 points (third highest in the match and second on the team) from 13 kills and a solo block. Fiona McNeil (Fayetteville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) hit a match-high and season-high .455 attack percentage off of 11 attempts with six kills and only one error. She added three block assists and one set assist as she ended the night with 7.5 points.
 
Defensively, Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) led the way with 13 digs while Anjoeline Armstrong (Simi Valley, CA/Bishop Alemany) joined her and Burns in double-digits with 10 digs.
 
In the second set, AU and Houghton battled back and forth for a Saxon 5-4 lead but due to 7-4 Houghton run a few points later, got down 15-12. The Highlanders chained together a 9-3 run to go up 24-15 with looks to close out the second set early. Due to four blocks and two kills (and a Houghton attacking error) AU scored seven, unanswered points to bring it within two points, down 24-22. An Alfred attack error of their own released the set to the Highlanders.
 
Alfred and Houghton started the third set with a few exchanges of points and the lead until AU busted the scoring open with a 8-2 run for an 11-6 advantage early in the set. The lead was never relinquished for the remainder of the set, despite a pair of ties in efforts to close out the match. The last the score was tied was 16-16 before the Saxons ended the set with a 9-2 run, highlighted by three kills from Russin and three from Raeman.
 
In the fourth and what would go on to be the final set of the match, Houghton College earned an early 4-1 lead before AU responded with a 6-1 run of their own for the 7-5 lead. The highlanders rallied for eight of the next 10 points, earning a 13-9 lead, as the lead wouldn't change for the rest of the match and also wasn't tied despite multiple one-point deficits for AU.
 
The Saxons will next travel to Oneonta for a tri-match against the hosts and Vassar College on Saturday, October 2. The first match will be against the Brewers of Vassar, starting at 2:00pm before taking on the Red Dragons at 4:00pm.