UAlbany Volleyball Falls in Pair of Four-Setters to Finish Otto Invite
UAlbany-Cornell: Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
UAlbany-Colgate: Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – UAlbany won set two in each of its Otto Invitational matches on Sunday, but fell in four to Cornell (13-25, 27-25, 18-25, 21-25) and Colgate (19-25, 25-23, 14-25, 15-25).
Laini Leindecker, who was named to the All-Tournament Team for UAlbany (2-10), combined for 15 kills, four aces and 27 digs on the day. Olivia Schonewise finished the day with 17 kills and 17 digs, while libero Elizabet Genis had 18 digs and two aces.
Against UAlbany, Emily Wemhoff hit .372 for Cornell (3-5) with 20 kills and 10 digs. Kit McCarty hit .360 for 11 kills, while Alyssa Phelps nearly got a double-double with 44 assists, nine digs and five aces.
For Colgate (6-4) against the Great Danes, Kenzie Hume hit .500 with 15 kills, nine digs and an ace. Libero Elena Simpson finished with 25 digs and five aces.
Cornell got off to a strong beginning in set one, starting with a 5-0 run. Two Cornell errors stopped the run, but the Big Red got three more to make it 8-2. Schonewise got a tip kill to spark a 3-0 run to pull UAlbany within three at 8-5. Intermittent kills by Schonewise and Leindecker were not enough as Cornell won the set 25-13.
After some early back-and-forth play in set two, Amy Hunter earned a couple of hard kills on the outside to put UAlbany up 7-4. Cornell tied it back up to eight as the sides continued to exchange points. A kill and block, the latter on a hard strike, by Sofia Furlong, put UAlbany back in front 11-9. Later, Cornell again tied the set and took a one-point lead at 17-16. Slide kills from Tatum Jungsten and Furlong put UAlbany back in front, which was countered by two Wemhoff kills for Cornell. UA countered back, with kills to the corner from Leindecker and Dolan sparking a 3-0 run to go ahead 21-19. Cornell got the next four to lead 23-21. At 24-22, twice Hunter came up with kills on Cornell set points, then did it again to make it 25-25. On the serving of Emily Lopes, Jungsten earned a kill in the middle, then blocked a Maddy Sroufe attack in the middle to finish a UA 3-0 run and win the set for UAlbany 27-25, tying the match at 1-1.
The Big Red won the first six points in the third set before Amanda Dolan earned a kill to stop the streak, adding a Hunter solo block. At 11-4 Cornell, a Big Red service error and Hunter service ace pulled UA within five at 11-6. The two teams exchanged points until at 19-12, UAlbany took the next three, sandwiched by kills from Schonewise and Jungsten, to pull within four at 19-15. Cornell got the lead back to six, which UAlbany put it back to four after kills from Jungsten and Mikala McCauley, but that is as close as UAlbany got as Cornell used a late 3-0 run to seal the set, winning 25-18 to go up in the match 2-1.
An early 3-0 run put Cornell ahead 6-3 in the fourth set. A couple of Leindecker kills helped UAlbany win five of the next six points to go ahead 8-7. The two sides tugged, as a couple of Jungsten blocks put UA ahead 11-10. Cornell won the next four to lead 14-11. UA used two Cornell attack errors and a Schonewise ace to tie up the game at 14-14. Cornell later used a 5-0 run to go ahead 23-16. At 24-17, a Cornell attack error sent Genis back to serve. Genis's blazing float serve caused problems in the Cornell back row, capping a 4-0 run with an ace to pull UAlbany within three 24-21, but Cornell won the next point to take the set 25-21 and win the match in four.
UAlbany looked to regroup for the second match against Colgate. The two sides started by exchanging a pair of points a pair of times, the second pair of UAlbany off kills from Leindecker and Schonewise. At 5-5, Colgate went on a 3-0 run to go ahead, but UAlbany took advantage of three Colgate errors in a row to tie it up at nine. At 11-11, Colgate got the following six points to take a 17-11 lead. Kills from Schonewise and McCauley stopped the run as UAlbany looked to get back in the game, winning six of the seven, including a Jungsten ace on a short serve and a long rally saved by a Leindecker diving dig on the 10-foot line, to pull within 18-17. Colgate stayed in the lead with a 4-0 run, and UAlbany could not get closer. Colgate took set one 25-19.
Set two began with a combo block of Furlong-Leindecker, followed by a Schonewise kill on the outside for a 2-0 UAlbany lead. Colgate struck back with six of the next seven to go up 6-3. At 8-5, UAlbany got back to within one after kills from Schonewise and McCauley, but another 3-0 Colgate run made it 11-7. A couple of points later at 12-8, a Dolan sent Leindecker back to serve. The captain served UAlbany through a 4-0 run with an ace to tie up the set 12-12. Colgate used two aces to help built a four-point lead at 18-14. A Schonewise kill and Colgate attack error brought UA back to within two as UAlbany tried to bridge the gap, doing so at 20-18, with a McCauley ace and Colgate attack error tying the set at 20-20. Following a Colgate kill, a Dolan attack drew a deflection for the kill, then Leindecker earned her third ace of the set to give UA a 22-21 lead. Colgate tied it up, then another Dolan kill to the corner put UAlbany back in front. At 23-23, confusion in the Colgate front row led to a fourth touch for UAlbany set point. At set point, McCauley and Jungsten combined to block an attack to win the set for UAlbany 25-23.
Both sides battled at the start of the third set, with neither getting a two-point lead in the first 15 points. At 7-6 UAlbany, two kills and an ace for Colgate put the Raiders ahead 9-7. At 12-10, Colgate won five of the next six to take a 17-11 advantage. UAlbany got as close as five points as Colgate had a late 7-0 run, capped by two Elena Simpson aces, to win the set 25-14 and go up 2-1 in the match.
The fourth set saw Schonewise earn the first point on a kill. Colgate went on a 5-0 run to force UAlbany to call timeout. UA clawed its way back in, using a 3-0 run, helped by a Furlong block and Leindecker ace, to take tie the set at 8-8. Colgate countered with the next four points to go back up 12-8. After a timeout, UA won the next three of Genis's serving to pull within one. The Raiders kept the lead and got the next six for an 18-11 lead. UAlbany could not get closer and fell in the set 25-15 to fall in four in the match.
UAlbany opens America East play on Friday, September 26th, hosting Binghamton at the University Gym at 7 p.m.
