Posted: Sep 05, 2012
UTICA, N.Y. – The SUNYIT Women's Volleyball Team (0-5, 0-0 NEAC) dropped a nail-biter at Utica College Wednesday night, losing in 5 sets.
The Wildcats started out strong, winning the first set 25-21. SUNYIT then promptly lost its next two sets (22-25 and 18-25), before rallying in the fourth set to win 25-21 and force a fifth. Ultimately the Pioneers were too tough, as the home team pulled out the fifth set 15-10 to take the match, three games to two.
Despite the loss there were a number of positives for SUNYIT. Outside hitter Hanne Saarinen (Lempaala, Finland / Tampereen lyseon lukio) led all players with 21 kills on the match, and junior captain Kaitlyn Harrington (Central Square, N.Y. / Paul V. Moore) led all players with 23 digs.
But where SUNYIT excelled in quantity, Utica made up for in quality. With 18 kills on just 31 attempts, Cassandra Manzer led all players with a .452 kill percentage. For the match Utica held an edge with a .294 kill percentage to SUNYIT's .222 average.
The Wildcats will travel next to SUNY Potsdam this weekend for a tournament. First match is schedule for Friday at 5:30 pm vs. St. Michael's.