ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team defeated Hartwick College on Friday evening in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena, 3-0.
 
The Saxons (4-9, 1-2 Empire 8) defeated the Hawks (6-7, 2-1 Empire 8) with scores of 25-23, 25-23, 25-14 to hand them their first conference defeat of the season. It was the first win against the Hawks since 2018 and the first three-set sweep since 2004.
 
"We worked really hard this week on limiting our unforced errors and utilizing our defense," Head Coach Mike Honeycutt said. "Coming in against the No. 2 team in conference from last year, we knew that we had a fight at the net, going against a strong block. Starting with our back line that kept their attack at bay, to Delaney [Sims] and multiple others at the second touch, our hitters had excellent opportunities to battle against that block. We look forward to celebrating our seniors tomorrow against Sage and swords forward!"
 
The Saxons totaled 41 kills compared to Hartwick's 29 while the Hawk frontline had 12 total block assists compared to Alfred's six assists and one solo block from Cara Bratthauar (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg Area). Taylor Malone (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) tied for a match-high in kills with 13 as she led the Saxons in scoring with 13.5, adding a block assist. She also led the team in digs with 12 while adding in three set assists. Casey Grange (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) added 11.5 points from 11 kills and a block assist with one dig and one error.
 
Delaney Sims (Bogart, GA/George Walton Academy) led the match with a .444 hitting percentage, totaling five kills on nine attacks and one error…as a setter! She totaled 7.5 points as the #3 scorer for the Saxons, adding two aces and one block assist while leading the match with 32 set assists. She added seven digs. Jade K Wolfer (Nunda, NY/Keshequa) also had two service aces during a crucial scoring spree in the third set while adding four digs.
 
Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) added 10 digs as each player who saw court time contributed a dig to keep the Hartwick kill-count low. Almost all Saxons also scored a point while every player that was at the front recorded a kills as Fiona McNeil (Fayetteville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) had seven kills, Bratthauar had three and Jamie Chun (Hilo, HI/Hilo) had two. Bratthauar also led the Saxons with the match's lone solo block and two block assists.
 
The first two sets were nearly mirrored images of each other in terms of the back-and-forth battle between AU and HC. The Saxons held a 22-19 advantage in the first set before a 4-1 run by the Hawks tied the set, 23-23. Kills from Malone and Grange closed out the set after an AU timeout for the early, 1-0 match lead.
 
Hartwick started the second set with a 10-5 lead before the Saxons built a 7-1 scoring spree to take the lead, 12-11. McNeil had two kills and Sims had one to start the scoring run but it was Hartwick attacking errors and a bad set that contributed four points in a row during that series. The set remained close until the Hawks took a 20-19 lead over AU. Back-to-back Malone kills and back-to-back Sims aces gave AU the 23-20 lead as they looked to close out the second.
 
Hartwick brought the AU lead down to one point after errors by the Saxons. Malone added another kill to make it a 24-22 set in favor of the hosts. A Hartwick kill brought it back within one but a Grange kill closed out the set for the 2-0 match lead, making it her second set-clinching kill of the night.
 
The third set had another close start with a Hartwick 5-4 lead before the Saxons tied it at 5-5 with a Grange kill. Wolfer subbed in for AU to serve for the Saxons and led a charge for the night's longest scoring spree, helping AU take the 5-5 tie and change it to a 14-5 Saxon lead before the Hawks could manage another point. During that spree, Wolfer had two aces while the Saxon frontline totaled six kills from Grange, Malone, McNeil and Sims.
 
Despite the Saxons and Hawks exchanging points during the following series, the Saxons came away with the sweep after two attacking errors by Hartwick.
 
The Saxons will next host a match during Homecoming Weekend as they host Russell Sage College on Saturday, October 7 at 1:00pm. They will also recognize their four seniors, Chun, McNeil, Grange and Corinne Ferguson (Chesapeake, OH/Chesapeake) in pre-match ceremonies. Fifth-year Ortiz joins them in playing in their final home match.