ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team came-from-behind to defeat Elmira College, 3-2 in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena on Wednesday evening in Empire 8 action.
 
The Saxons (4-8, 1-2 Empire 8) were led by the record-setting performance of Casey Grange (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) who broke not only the five-set kills mark but also the five-set points milestone. Both records were held by Amber Smith '20 as she had 27 kills and 29.0 points against Hartwick College in 2017. Grange broke both records with 29 kills and 30.5 points in the five-set thriller.
 
AU dropped both the first and set sets, 15-25, 18-25 before coming back for wins in the third, fourth and fifth sets, 25-21, 25-19, 15-13. The Saxons got out to an early 4-1 lead over the Soaring Eagles (5-13, 0-3 Empire 8) and didn't relinquish the lead until after switching sides, 8-7 in the fifth set. Elmira opened the second half of the set with four unanswered points, compiling a 6-1 run to lead AU, 13-9.
 
An attack error from Maddie Boucher of Elmira ended the scoring spree, making it a 13-10 advantage for the visitors. Grange tied the school record in kills with her 27^th of the night to make it 13-11. Samantha Garry of the Soaring Eagles made it 13-12 with an attack error. Grange broke the record with her 28^th kill and broke the points record with her 29.5^th to tie it at 13-13. AU pulled ahead with another Garry error, making it 14-13, match-point for Alfred. After a Jamie Chun (Hilo, HI/Hilo) serve and the ball came back over the net to AU's side, Chun dug the attack, passing it to Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) who set Grange up for the match-clinching kill.
 
"We talked the last couple days about adversity and resiliency. Our team would only have seven healthy athletes that could play," Interim Head Coach Mike Honeycutt said. "We could either use that as an excuse or we could dig deep, play with reckless abandon, play with heart and make sure that we came out victorious."
 
Grange added one ace and one block assist to her evening while totaling 11 digs. She also had a match-high in attack percentage (10 or more attacks), swinging .344 from her 61 attacks. Jade K Wolfer (Nunda, NY/Keshequa) tied for a match-high in digs with 18 while adding a set assist. Chun followed with 17 digs, totaling 8.5 points from six kills, two aces and one block assist. Ortiz led AU in set assists with 40, adding two kills and five digs. Corinne Ferguson (Chesapeake, OH/Chesapeake) had a team-high three aces, adding five kills and two block assists while stopping nine attacks. Fiona McNeil (Fayetteville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) had a team-high three block assists, adding three kills for 4.5 points. Kristin Finley (Kenyon, MN/Kenyon-Wanamingo) closed out the stat line with a block assist for the Saxons.
 
"This team is a family. They play for each other. That's what it took tonight. Everyone, giving their all, till that final ball landed and we won. I could not be prouder of them!" Coach Honeycutt said. "Also, the crowd was amazing! We want to thank them for making the time to cheer us on and get the house rocking! It was electric!"
 
The Saxons will next host Keuka College on Friday, October 7 at 6:00pm in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena, continuing E8 play.