SAGE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL TEAM DOWNS #5 MSMC; GATORS ADVANCE TO SKYLINE SEMIFINALS
Albany, NY–The Sage Colleges' women's volleyball team hosted the Knights of Mt. St. Mary College on Tuesday night in the first round of the 2016 Skyline Conference Tournament. Seeded 4, the Gators posted a 3-0 win over the #5 seeded Knights (26-24, 25-21, 25-22) and have advanced to the semifinals. Sage will host No. 1 seeded Farmingdale State on November 3 at Kahl Gym at 7 p.m. due to a conflict with the Ram's facilities. Sage improves to 17-17, while the Knights drop to 15-18 on the year.
The contest was a hard fought match as there were a combined 11 ties with nine lead changes in the three sets. Sage held the Knights to a combined .085 attack percentage and was paced by the performance of senior outside Michayla Berard (Binghamton, NY/Susquehanna Valley) as she led all players with her 11 kills. She added 3 digs with one block assist for the Gators. Senior Sara Campolieta's (Fulton, NY/G. Ray Bodley) connected for nine kills with 13 digs, four aces and a block assist and led Sage with her 13.5 points in the action.
Sophomore outside hitter Amelia Taylor (Ford Edward, NY/Fort Edward) had a .417 hitting percentage with six kills and a pair of block assists. Junior Alyssa Nellis(Johnstown, NY/Johnstown) added two kills with three digs and three total blocks. Senior Devyn Morlock (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) added seven digs, while junior defensive specialist Missy Schneiderman (Middletown, NY/Minisink Valley) had a team-best 19 digs in the contest. Graduate player Katy Rimawi (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) added 11 digs with three aces. Senior setter Rachel Liebig (Hartford, NY/Hartford) amassed 25 setting assists with 10 digs.
MSMC's sophomore outside hitter Ally Klesin (Glendale, NY/Archbishop Molloy) connected for nine kills with a .368 attack percentage, while adding three digs. Senior outside hitter Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay) had eight kills with seven digs, and a block assist for the Knights. Senior setter Kristen Maddock (Medford, NY/Patchogue-Medford) racked up 27 setting assists with five aces and 11 digs, while adding a pair of block assists in the match. Junior libero Julimar Figueroa (Dorado, Puerto Rico) led the match with 22 digs and added an ace for MSMC.
With every match this season, the 2016 Gators are attacking the program's record book. After tonight's matches Berard has 956 career kills, which ranks No. 6 all-time at Sage. She also boasts 164 career total blocks, moving her into No. 7 in the list. Liebig, who is a CoSIDA Academic All-District nominee, now has 3,301 career setting assists which No. 2 at Sage, while also adding 200 career aces to her resume. She is fourth in career aces, while Campolieta has 544 career kills and is 13th at Sage, while her 914 career digs puts her 18th on the career list. Scheiderman has 1,025 career digs, which stands 14th best in the program's history.
Sage will now host the Rams in the semifinals on Thursday at Kahl Gym at 7 p.m.