Sage splits on Senior Day

Sage splits on Senior Day

Albany, NY- The Sage Colleges' women's volleyball hosted an Empire 8 tri-match on Saturday with Elmira College and Houghton College. The first match went to Elmira College, 3-1 (17-25, 32-30, 25-15, 25-22). In the second match, Elmira came back from a 2-0 deficit to Houghton, to win, 3-2 (17-25, 13-25, 26-16, 25-18, 16-14) and in the process earned the 600th career win for Head Coach, Rhonda Faunce. In the final match of the day, Sage also needed five sets, but collected a 3-2 win over Houghton, (27-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-25, 15-13). Age stands at 8-20 overall and posted a 2-6 mark in the Empire 8 on the season. Elmira stands at 18-10 overall and 3-5 in the league, while Houghton stands at 11-17 overall and also went 2-6 in the league.

Against Elmira, was led by sophomore middle hitter Miranda Nethaway (Fonda, NY/Fonda-Fultonville Central) as she had 10 kills with six total blocks.  Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Carrozzi (Warnerville, NY/Cobleskill-Richmondville) added nine four digs and three block assists. Rookie outside hitter Gabby Rowell (Morrisonville, NY/Beekmantown) had eight kills with six digs. Senior Alyssa Nellis (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown) added five kills with 17 setting assists, five aces, and 10 digs with six total blocks. Senior libero Missy Schneiderman (Middletown, NY/Minisink Valley) tallied 16 digs with an ace, rookie outside hitter Zarissa Wheeler (Poughkeepsie, NY/Arlington) racked up seven digs.

Against, Houghton, Rowell posted a double-double with her 14 kills, 12 digs and an ace with a team-best 15.5 points in the action. Nellis posted a double-double as well with 12 kills, 10 digs, and an ace with a block assist en route to her 14.5 points in the match. Scheiderman had a blistering effort on defense with 29 digs with two aces, four setting assists and made just one reception error in 32 attempts for a .970 reception percentage.

Sophomore Nicole Groll (Southington, CT/Southington) added 12 digs and was a perfect 17-0 on receptions, while Nethaway posted 12 kills with six block assists for the Gators.

It was senior day for the Gators and they honored their two seniors, Nellis and Schneiderman on the day. By day's end, the pair continued to move their names and career numbers up the Gator record book. Nellis now has 469 career kills, putting her in 16th on the list. She is also now 5th in career blocks (189), while her 400 career setting assists is ninth best. She is also climbing the single-season record book as she is currently 11th with her 70 blocks on the 2017 season. Schneiderman has 1,396 career digs and currently fifth on the Sage dig list, while adding 131 career aces and moved into the No. 12 spot on Saturday.

The Gators return to play on October 27 travelling to Union College for a pair of non-conference contests with SUNY-New Paltz and Union on Friday.