ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team closed out the Saxon Classic with a pair of non-conference losses, battling to a four-set loss against SUNY Potsdam and a three set loss to Penn State Behrend on Saturday evening in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena.

The Saxons (1-3, 0-0 Empire 8) loss to the Bears 19-25, 18-25, 25-19 and 21-25 in the opening match on Saturday. They then nearly forced a fourth set against the Lions in the nightcap but fell, 17-25, 12-25 and 19-25.

"I'm proud of the character our squad showed today going up against a ton of adversity from some injuries along with facing two young opponents," Head Coach Dakota Pruiss said. "Potsdam and Behrend are both coached well, so to compete against them is a great sign of growth this early."

Match One
Rylee Russin (Broomfield, CO/Broomfield) led the Saxons in the morning with 14.5 points from 13 kills, one solo block and one block assist. Two other AU players scored in double-digit points with Jamie Chun (Hilo, HI/Hilo) totaling 12.0 points from nine kills and three aces and Honor Edmands (Reno, NV/Reno) also having three aces to go with her seven kills, solo block and block assist.

Chun had the Saxons' lone double-double stat line, adding 19 digs to her points. She finished just behind Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) and her 21 digs. Lucy McCredie (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) and Corinne Ferguson (Chesapeake, OH/Chesapeake) led the way in assists with 21 and 11, respectively.

The third set was won for the Saxons off a series of kills, aces and Potsdam mistakes in the beginning, resulting in an 11-2 run, giving AU the 13-7 advantage after being down, 2-5. The Bears would only be able to build a run-high of three scores twice but never more than that as AU forced the fourth set.

Match Two
The scoring efforts were spread out in the final match of the weekend with Edmands and Russin both scoring 6.0 points. All of Edmands' points were from kills while Russin had one from an ace. Ortiz continued to be steadfast in the back row, totaling 16 digs in three sets. The assists were nearly even as McCredie had 11 and Ferguson had 10.

"Honor Edmands was an offensive force for us this weekend. I'm glad her hard work is showing. Overall I'm very pleased," Coach Pruiss said.

The Saxons will next look towards another tournament as they will hit the road to SUNY New Paltz for a Friday/Saturday stay. They will first take on fellow Empire 8 opponent, Russell Sage College on September 10 at 7:00pm in non-conference action before taking on the hosts and Mount Saint Mary College (NY) on Saturday.