ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team took down #1 seeded St. John Fisher University on Thursday evening, snapping the Cardinals' (17-12, 8-0 Empire 8) 48-win streak against Empire 8 conference opponents and preventing a fifth-straight Empire 8 Championship title to be had.
 
The Saxons (13-13, 5-3 Empire 8) won in four sets, dropping the first one, 19-25 before winning the next three, 25-23, 25-21, 25-17. It was the first time since 2000 that the Saxons defeated the Cardinals and only the third win since 1996. "What an amazing feeling! To make it to the E8 Championship match for the first time since 1999 is a special moment for this team," Head Coach Mike Honeycutt said. "We will enjoy this win tonight but know we still have work to do on Saturday. I couldn't be prouder!"
 
Taylor Malone (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) led the match in points and kills, totaling 23.0 points and 20 kills. She added three service aces and had a double-double with 14 digs. Three Saxons had 8.5 points as Jamie Chun (Hilo, HI/Hilo), Delaney Sims (Bogart, GA/George Walton Academy) and Fiona McNeil (Fayetteville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) all had that. Casey Grange (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) followed with 8.0 points.
 
Chun had a team-high 19 digs, followed by Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) with 16. Malone's 14 digs were followed by Sims's 12. Sims also had a match-high in service aces with four while assisting on kills 39 times.
 
The Cardinals had a 16-9 lead in the second set before AU scored five in a row, featured by a kill and an ace from Chun and two kills by Grange, making it a two-point set. The Cardinals went on to a 23-21 lead before a kill from Grange and two from McNeil took the lead in the set. An attack error by Fisher's Delayne Young closed out the set and tied the match, 1-1.
 
The third set was a back-and-forth battle for both teams until AU tied the set and took a commanding, 18-15 lead after two kills from Grange and an ace from Chun. Fisher tied the set at 18-18 before the Saxons went on a 7-3 run to go up on the match, 2-1. During that final run, AU scored four points, unanswered with two kills from Malone and back-to-back errors by Fisher's Kaylene Noble, first coming on a block by Sims and Cara Bratthauar (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg Area) and the second being a ball handling error. Malone scored the set-clinching kill.
 
The fourth set saw a seven-point Saxon lead at 19-12 after four unanswered points, featuring a kill from Sims, a kill from Bratthauar and two service aces by Sims. Malone scored the 24^th point with a kill before Fisher's Noble closed out the match with an attack that went long and out of bounds.
 
The Saxons will next travel to #3 seeded Keuka College on Saturday, November 11 for the Empire 8 Women's Volleyball Championship.