HAMBURG, NY – The Alfred University women's volleyball team secured its first win of the season at Hilbert College on Wednesday.

The Saxons (1-7, 0-0 Empire 8) dropped the first set to the Hawks (3-6, 0-0 AMCC), 25-18, but responded by winning the next three with scores of 25-17, 25-23, 25-19 to seal the victory.

Taylor Malone (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) led with a season-high 24.0 on a career-high 23 kills and one service ace. Delaney Sims (Bogart, GA/George Walton Academy) recorded a season-high 40 assists while registering 4.5 points on four kills and one block assist. Both Malone and Sims also registered 11 digs apiece. Carleigh Santavy (Commerce, MI/Walled Lake Northern) posted 11 kills on the night while Madalynn McGowan (Corona, CA/Norco) led AUVB with a career-high 15 digs.

After dropping the first set, the Saxons immediately jumped out to an 8-3 lead to open the second. Malone contributed two kills during the scoring run. Hilbert College responded with a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to one, but two errors allowed AUVB to pull ahead 10-7. Building on this momentum, the Saxons had kills from four players and a first career solo block by Julia Abbott (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) to extend the score to 16-7. Up by five, the team closed the second with Malone, Santavy, and Whitney Kilton (Pearl City, HI/Pearl City) combining for four of the final five points, evening the match at 1-1.

AUVB started with a 6-3 lead in the third before Hilbert College ignited a 10-3 run to move ahead, 13-9. Three mistakes by the Hawks, along with kills from Malone and Kilton brought the Saxons within two, 16-14. After Hilbert College extended its advantage by three, a kill by Santavy sparked an 11-4 run that completed the comeback for AUVB.

The Hawks started the fourth set with a 5-0 lead. The Saxons responded with seven unanswered points to get in front by two. Malone had three kills while Jade Wolfer (Nunda, NY/Keshequa) notched her 2.0 points on two service aces during the run. AUVB remained in front for the rest of the set to come out on top.

"Our serving and defense drove us in this match," Assistant Coach Rachel Blew said. "We played smart volleyball and saw what we have been practicing go to work for us."

The Saxons will have the rest of the week off before traveling to Union, New Jersey for the Kean Invitational on Sept. 19-20. AUVB will play its first matches against the host Kean University (at 4:00 PM) and Salisbury University (at 6:00 PM) on Friday.