ROCHESTER, N.Y. –  Russell Sage College dropped a pair of matches today at the Nazareth Tournament.

The Gators began the day by falling 3-1 to the host Golden Flyers. 

Middle hitter Celia Gagnon (Troy, NY/Ichabod Crane), a graduate student, topped RSC with 11 kills and four blocks in the Empire 8 Conference setback. Junior outside hitter Sydney Shepard (Canajoharie, NY/Canajoharie) added ten kills, while junior setter Statia Walker (Schodack, NY/Maple Hill), who surpassed 1,000 career assists on Friday night at St. John Fisher, led all participants with 31 assists.

Senior defensive specialist Elaina Moisidis (Albany, NY/Albany), who began the day atop the conference in digs and digs per-set, elevated 16 Nazareth attacks.         

The Golden Flyers (5-10/2-1 E8) had five players record eight or more kills in the home victory. Senior outside hitter Kaylee Kelly led the way with 11 kills. Sophomore setter Tessa Grover added 30 assists and nine kills, while sophomore setter Zoe Tylipakis totaled 17 digs.

RSC (4-15/1-3 E8) wrapped up its weekend by falling 3-0 to SUNY Brockport.

Junior right side Caitlin Hammecker (Warnerville, NY/Cobleskill-Richmondville) paced the Gators with six kills, while Gagnon finished off five rallies.  Walker doled out 10 assists, while junior defensive specialist Rylie Gray (Bombay, NY/Salmon River Central) registered a team-high five digs.

The Golden Eagles (13-4) hit .382 as a team in the non-conference sweep. Freshman outside hitter Julia Reedy and fifth-year senior middle hitter Myah Frostclapp each recorded seven kills.

Looking ahead, the Gators continue E8 play on Wednesday night at Hartwick. Opening serve is slated for 6:00 pm.

Notes: The fall has been full of milestones for the program...Head coach Sandy Augstein-Collins, now in her 13th season coaching at RSC and 26th overall, picked up her 375th career victory on September 14 vs. SUNY Cobleskill…Moisidis, who topped the Empire 8 Conference with 492 digs, 4.82 per-set, last fall, became the 15th RSC player to surpass 1,000 career digs on September 10 at the SUNY New Paltz Tournament…Walker dished out the 1,000th assist of her career on September 30 at St. John Fisher...She's recorded nine double-doubles this fall...Gagnon is closing in on the 500th kill of her career...The middle hitter, now with 466 career kills, recorded 2.80 kills per-set last week...She totaled seven blocks and five aces across the three matches.

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