ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team earned its first win of the season with a 3-1 decision in the final match of the Saxon Classic, topping SUNY Canton after a five-set loss in the morning to SUNY Potsdam.
 
The Saxons (1-2, 0-0 Empire 8) were edged in the first match on Saturday to SUNY Potsdam with set scores of 25-16, 21-25, 21-25, 25-18, 12-15. In the nightcap, AU defeated the Roos (0-3, 0-0 NAC) 25-22, 16-25, 25-20, 26-24.
 
"I am so proud of this team. They faced some serious obstacles in this match with losing our starting opposite (Corinne) in the middle of the second set and our starting outside hitter at the end of the first set (Jamie was able to return halfway through the 4th set)," Interim Head Coach Mike Honeycutt said. "We persevered, played hard and came away with our first win of this young season. Overall, a great weekend that we can build from and the fans were amazing!"
 
Match One
Jamie Chun (Hilo, HI/Hilo) led the match in scoring with 19.0 points from a team-high 15 kills and a match-high four aces. Potsdam's Jessica Ader led the match in kills and digs with 16 and 23, respectively. Casey Grange (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) had 11 kills, two aces and one block assist for 13.5 points to follow Chun. Corinne Ferguson (Chesapeake, OH/Chesapeake) rounded out the top-scorers with 10.5 points from nine kills, one ace and one block assist.
 
Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) had a team-high 19 digs while Anjoeline Armstrong (Simi Valley, CA/Bishop Alemany) added 15. Chun had 13 digs and Delaney Sims (Bogart, GA/George Walton Academy) added 11 while leading the match with 45 set assists and hitting percentage (10 attacks or more), hitting a .429 off of 14 attempts with six kills (adding two aces for 8.0 points).
 
The Saxons were down 8-4 at the switching point of the fifth set to the Bears (2-1, 0-0 SUNYAC). They pushed back with an 8-6 run, making the set a 14-12 lead for Potsdam before an attack was ruled an error, despite questions on if it made contact with a Potsdam blocker before landing out of bounds, ending the comeback and match.
 
Match Two
Chun made it three matches in a row that she led the Saxons in scoring as she scored 16.0 points from 13 kills and three aces. It was also her third match in a row with double-digit digs, stopping 13 attacks. Ortiz had a match-high 19 digs as the only Saxon with more stops than Chun. Sims and Armstrong both had 12 digs in the match against Canton.
 
Grange had 12.5 points from 11 kills, one ace and one block assist while Fiona McNeil (Fayetteville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) added 10.5 points from nine kills and three block assists. Sims had 37 set assists, totaling seven more than the entire Roos team combined, as they had 30 assists in total during the four-set contest. She also led the match in aces with four while totaling three kills and two block assists for 8.0 points.
 
After winning the first and third sets, the Saxons went into their first set of the season that needed extra points, due to the win-by-two rule.
 
Early in the fourth set, SUNY Canton held an 11-6 lead early before AU scored nine, unanswered points, taking a 15-11 lead, a lead that despite being tied twice, was never relinquished. AU held a 24-21 lead but due to three mistakes by the hosts, it was tied at 24 before Chun made it 25-24 with a kill after a Sims pass. Sims connected with Grange for the match-clinching kill right after.
 
The Saxons will next travel to the Hudson Valley to compete in a tournament hosted by SUNY New Paltz. They open up the weekend on Friday night, playing the Knights of Mount Saint Mary College (NY) at 6:30pm. On Saturday, AU faces Empire 8 foe, Russell Sage College, in non-conference action at 12:30pm before closing out the weekend with a 5:30pm match against the hosts.