SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Gordon Volleyball stayed at the .500 mark with a solid 3-1 win over MASCAC foe Westfield State on Saturday morning before falling to a tough Rochester Institute of Technology squad in five sets during the afternoon session at the Springfield College Invitational. The combination of a strong attack and service game carried the Fighting Scots for the second time in three matches to help them pull off three straight sets after drafting the opening game.
Match One: Gordon 3 – 1 Westfield St. (20-25, 13-25, 29-27, 25-20)
After a tough match in the Friday finale, Gordon had to overcome a slow start against Westfield State to notch its second victory of the season. The Fighting Scots totaled just nine kills for a .088 hitting percentage during a first-set loss, but used great offensive production in the second and four sets to put some distance between them and their foe.
Meghan Hokanson (Coon Rapids, Minn.) rebounded from a tough match against Springfield and was brilliant against the Owls on Saturday morning. The junior middle accumulated 15 kills to only four errors, while also being a part of three blocks during the match. Carleigh Petersen (North Hills, Calif.) led the Scots in offense for the second straight day with 16 kills and 19 total points.
Gordon and Westfield were tied until the midway point of the first set, 14-14, when the Owls put a long spurt together and never let Gordon get back within three points of them. The Fighting Scots responded with a dominant run at the end of the second set. Tied 12-12, Gordon tallied 10 consecutive points, including a pair of service aces for Jenna Labbadia (Berlin, Conn.) to go up 22-12. Gordon would only allow another point to the Owls the rest of the set to knot things up at one.
The third and fourth sets were closely contested, including the lengthy third, but the Fighting Scots found enough down the stretch to grit out the win.
Renee Cooprider (Hopkinton, Mass.) finished just a few assists shy of the Gordon four-set record with 45 in the triumph.
Gordon outserved Westfield St. to the tune of 18 aces to nine for the Owls.
Match Two: RIT 3 - 2 Gordon (17-25, 25-23, 27-29, 25-17, 4-15)
In its final match of the weekend, Gordon matched wits with RIT, a team who had given Springfield some trouble on day one of the tournament.
The Fighting Scots and Tigers traded knocks in what amounted to the most evenly contested match of the weekend through four sets. After RIT raced out to a 1-0 lead with a 25-17 first set, Gordon dug deep to draw even with a 25-23 victory in the second game. In each of the first two sets, RIT started as the stronger team, but Gordon was able to catch them by the midway point of the second set with a 6-1 run that gave the Scots a 12-10 advantage. The Tigers charged back to take two leads in late stages of the set, but a handful of small runs from the Scots gave them the slim equalizer.
Gordon looked poised to take a one-set advantage in the third set when an elongated streak in the middle of the game gave them a 20-14 lead. However, RIT mouthed on a an 8-2 run to tie the game at 22. The two squads traded points back and forth until the score hit 27 a side before back-to-back kills by the Tigers gave them the third-set win 29-27.
The Fighting Scots flipped the script in the fourth set, as RIT was the one who took control before relinquishing due to a strong push from their opponents. Gordon trailed by as many as six in the fourth set, but the Scots ended the set on a 16-3 run to force a winner-takes-all opportunity.
RIT found a spark between the fourth and fifth sets, as they came out of the huddle on fire. Gordon could only muster four points in the final set, as RIT multiple multi-point runs together for the 15-4 win.
Gordon sported a more even attack in the loss with no player coming up with more than eight kills in the match. Sophomore Jamie Tafoya (Fort Collins, Colo.) led the with with eight, followed by Mackenzie Hinds (Higganum, Conn.) with seven.
RIT's Sarah Szybist (Colorado Springs, Colo.), a three-time All-American, was hard to control up front and the Tiger senior wound up with an eye-popping 34 kills during the match. Szybist is now in the top three all-time in RIT's career kills list.
Springfield College Invitational - All Tournament Team:
Lauren Holt - Springfield College - MVP
Kayleigh Helgesen - Springfield College
Jen Hurwitz - Springfield College
Sarah Szybist - RIT
Lizzie Taylor - Westfield State
Renee Cooprider - Gordon
Alyssa Rackliffe - Framingham State
What's Next?
Gordon's gauntlet of games to begin the season continues on Wednesday when they travel to Cambridge to take on a nationally touted MIT squad. The Engineers started the season as the top vote getter just outside of the top 25 in the AVCA poll.
