ONEONTA, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team battled Hartwick College in a hard-fought five-set match but fell by a score of 3-2 on Friday.

The Saxons (12-12, 4-2, Empire 8) lost the first set 25-20 before winning the next two 26-24 and 25-19. Unfortunately, the Hawks (14-10, 5-1 Empire 8) took the fourth set, 25-22, to force a fifth, where they brought the match to its final score with a 15-13 advantage.

The AUVB offense was prolific, racking up a team season-high 85.0 points with 70 of them on total kills, marking a new five-set match record. The previous record was 67 which was recorded against Hartwick College in 2017. 

Carleigh Santavy (Commerce, MI/Walled Lake Northern) and Taylor Malone (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) each led the way with 20.5 points apiece. Santavy matched her career-high 19 kills, which she set against Hartwick College a season ago. She also added 1.5 points to her stat line by matching a career-high three block assists. Malone was second for AUVB in kills with 17 while racking up a career-high three service aces and one block assist. She also notched a a season-high 15 digs.

In addition to a season high in kills, the Saxons broke another five-set match record a team season-high 65 assists. The previous record was 63 which was also posted against Hartwick College in 2017. Forty-six of them were a season high tallied by Delaney Sims (Bogart, GA/George Walton Academy), who reached 2,000 career assists. She surpassed Stephanie Sprague '01 and Amanda Burns '21 for fifth all-time in single-season assists with 655. Sims also scored 11.0 points on eight kills, three blocks and one service ace.

Cara Bratthauar (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg Area) recorded her fifth double-figure scoring performance with a season-high 10.5. She matched her career-high 19 kills and notched three block assists. 

Madalynn McGowan (Corona, CA/Norco) led the Saxons with a game-high 19 digs while notching a career-high four assists and a kill.

The Saxons struggled to gain momentum in the first set, dropping it 25-20. AUVB responded brilliantly in the second set, claiming a tight 26-24 win in a period marked by significant back-and-forth action, including 10 ties and 10 lead changes.

The Saxons carried that momentum into the third set, overpowering the Hawks with 18 kills. Santavy registered six kills with four of them down the stretch. Julia Abbott (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) notched four kills while Malone and Sims added three.

AUVB jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the fourth, but Hartwick College jumped in front with four unanswered points. In the latter part of the set, a Malone kill and a block assist from Santavy and Whitney Kilton (Pearl City, HI/Pearl City) gave the Saxons the 17-16 edge. Both teams traded points until it was 19-all. The Hawks used a 7-3 run to tie the match and force a fifth set.

Malone and Bratthauar posted a service ace and kill while two Hawk errors put AUVB up by one, 8-7. The rest of the set consisted of three ties and four lead changes. Unfortunately, Hartwick College closed out the match with three kills.

"While losing isn't what we wanted, I think going on the road and playing a tough five-set match shows our growth as a team," Head Coach Mike Honeycutt said." We played well in several aspects of the match and just need to fix a few small things. Time to let this one go and prepare for another tough match tomorrow".

The Saxons look to bounce back with another road match at Russell Sage College on Saturday at 12:00 PM.