ONEONTA, NY – The University of Rochester women's volleyball earned wins in both of its matches on the final day of the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragon Classic on Saturday inside Dewar Arena, sweeping Paul Smith's College, 3-0, before topping the host Red Dragons, 3-2. With the two victories, the Yellowjackets move to 3-1 on the season, while Oneonta drops to 1-4, and the Bobcats fall to 0-4.
MATCH ONE: Rochester 3, Paul Smith's 0
The 'Jackets put together a dominant performance against the Bobcats, holding Paul Smith's to a -0.111 hitting percentage, while hitting 0.386 themselves. URochester tallied 30 kills, compared to just five for Paul Smith's, and sent over 18 aces, holding the Bobcats to less than 10 points in each of the three sets.
URochester raced out to an early 8-2 lead in the opening set, with three kills from
Ellen Porter highlighting the Yellowjackets' opening run. A service ace by
Juliette Azzariti stretched the lead out to 11-4, while kills by
Lilly Kraemer,
Claire Feczko and
Myla Nover-Estes put Rochester up double-digits, 17-6.
Paige Stephenson's kill gave the Yellowjackets a 15-point, 21-6, lead over the Bobcats late, while
Emma McCrann finished off the 25-8, first-set victory for UR with another ace.
Set two would play out similarly to the first, with Rochester using an 11-0 run to turn a 5-3 lead into a 16-3 advantage. Five Stephenson aces keyed the 'Jackets' rally, while
Maren Smith got in on the action with two aces of her own to put UR up 20-4.
Rochester finished off the second set, 25-6, on Feczko's serve, and rolled into the third set with the first seven points, as they looked to finish off the sweep.
Emelia Cruz and
Emilyn Dienger sent over kills, while an 8-0 spurt made it a 15-1 game, with seven of eight points coming on
Raquel Morales' serve. The senior sent over three aces, while Feczko and Smith tallied kills as the Yellowjackets rolled to a 25-5, set-three win to finish off the sweep.
Feczko led the Yellowjackets with six kills, while Stephenson had a team-high six aces.
Wynn Eaton dished out 15 assists, while Morales had four digs.
MATCH TWO: Rochester 3, SUNY Oneonta 2
Nover-Estes got Rochester's match against the Red Dragons going with a kill, but it'd be the hosts who took the first set. Oneonta took the lead with four-straight points, three coming on Hailey Herrera's serve and stretched its lead out to six before
Ladi Iya took a timeout.
A 4-0 spurt saw the Yellowjackets pull within two, but the Red Dragons regrouped out of a timeout and extended their lead back to six. Oneonta led by as many as eight down the stretch, and despite a fury from Rochester that saw the 'Jackets pull within a point, 21-20, the Red Dragons held on late for the 25-23 victory.
Oneonta would again lead set two early, but the Yellowjackets clawed their way back, with kills from Porter, Smith and Dienger tying the match at eight points apiece, while an 8-0 spurt put URochester up for good.
Back-to-back aces from
Valeria Berrios Puig made it a 16-9 Rochester advantage, while three in a row after the Red Dragons pulled within six helped the 'Jackets tie the match and finish off the set, 25-16.
Oneonta, though, would respond and take the third set, stretching a three-point lead to seven with a 6-1 run midway through the set.
Now trailing, 2-1, the 'Jackets answered back to open the fourth set, scoring the first four points as they looked to force a decisive fifth set. Nover-Estes got the set started with a kill, while Azzariti sent over three-straight aces to give Rochester the early lead.
The 'Jackets led 8-3, following Cruz's kill and an attack error before the Red Dragons made their way back, pulling within one on back-to-back Rochester miscues, and forcing Iya to use a timeout.
Out of the timeout, though, URochester won the serve back, and Azzariti followed with two more aces, putting the 'Jackets up 15-11. Another ace, this time from Nover-Estes, put Rochester up five, 17-12, while a quick three points out of Oneonta's timeout made it a 20-12 advantage.
Back-to-back Nover-Estes kills helped keep the 'Jackets up eight, while Stephenson finished off the set, 25-19, with a kill from
Iliana Balaskas to force a fifth set.
And in the fifth set, Rochester took control early, pushing ahead 7-3 after three-straight Oneonta errors, and forcing the Red Dragons to spend their second timeout following kills from Cruz and Feczko, as well as another service error.
Shea Landversicht smashed a kill for Oneonta following the timeout, but Nover-Estes answered, keeping Rochester up 11-7. A 3-0 spurt pulled the Red Dragons within two, 13-11, but Rochester would finish things off after a timeout, with Nover-Estes and Porter sending over kills to give the Yellowjackets a 15-11, fifth-set win, and 3-2 match victory.
Offensively, Nover-Estes had a game-high 28 kills, a new career-high and tied for the seventh-most in a single match in program history. Azzariti and Balaskas both had double-digit assists, with Azzariti contributing 21, in addition to a team-high six aces, while Balaskas dished out 18.
Defensively, Weeks tallied 18 digs, while Cruz had Rochester's lone block.
The Yellowjackets next open their home slate with the UR Invitational, beginning with a matchup against Alfred University on Friday, Sept. 11 at 2:00 p.m. inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
