ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team fell in non-conference action at University of Rochester on Wednesday evening, 3-0.
 
The Saxons (10-4, 2-0 Empire 8) ended their non-conference schedule with three close, negative set scores, 21-25, 20-25, 17-25 on Wednesday to the Yellowjackets (8-10, 0-3 University Athletic Association). "While we didn't get the outcome we wanted, we can take several things from this match and keep them moving forward," Head Coach Mike Honeycutt said. "UR is a tough team and played very well. Looking forward to a tough conference weekend!"
 
AU was led by Abigail Omelan (Tomball, TX/Tomball Memorial) with 11.0 points on 11 kills while adding two set assists and two digs. She was second in the match for scoring. 1.5 points away from the match-high. Delaney Sims (Bogart, GA/George Walton Academy) neared a triple double with 17 set assists, 8.5 points and eight digs. She had three aces, three kills, three block assists and one solo block.
 
Catherina Krause (Pflugerville, TX/Hendrickson) had a match-high hitting percentage between hitters who had 10 or more attacks. She totaled six kills on 12 attacks with only one error for a percentage of .417 and added two block assists for 7.0 points in total.
 
Taylor Malone (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) and Jamie Chun (Hilo, HI/Hilo) had nine and eight digs, respectively, to join Sims and her eight.
 
All three sets saw Saxon leads. AU had a 5-4 lead early in the match after a kill from Cara Bratthauar (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg Area). U of R took the lead at 7-6 to start a 7-0 scoring run, building its lead to 13-6. The Saxons fought back, bit-by-bit and ended the set on a 5-1 run, making it a 24-21 Rochester lead but a final Yellowjacket kill put the set away and the Saxons down, 1-0 on the match.
 
In the second set, Rochester got out to an early, 10-5 lead before the Saxons put a statement, 9-0 run on the board to take a 14-10 lead, featuring two kills from Omelan and Carleigh Santavy (Commerce, MI/Walled Lake Northern) each, and single kills from Krause and Jade Wolfer (Nunda, NY/Keshequa) while Sims recorded two of her aces in the spree. The Yellowjackets responded with an 8-3 run to retake the lead, 18-17 before closing out the set and taking the 2-0 match lead.
 
In the third set, it was the Saxons who got out to an early lead, leading 5-2. AU saw its last lead at 13-12 after a Yellowjacket service error before the hosts ended the night on a 13-4 spree.
 
The Saxons will next travel to Utica, NY to face Utica University on Friday, October 11 at 7:00pm and SUNY Poly on Saturday at 1:00pm. The two Empire 8 matches are the first of a nine-match streak of conference matches before the Empire 8 Championship Tournament in November.