University of Rochester women's volleyball finished the Skidmore College Classic with a perfect 3-0 record, defeating both the host Skidmore College Thoroughbreds and the Middlebury College Panthers on Saturday. The 'Jackets downed the Thoroughbreds in four sets, 3-1, to open the day, before topping the Panthers in a back-and-forth, five-set thriller, 3-2, to move to 12-4 on the season. Middlebury dropped to 8-4 with the loss, while Skidmore fell to 7-9.
MATCH ONE: Rochester 3, Skidmore 1
The host Thoroughbreds scored the first point of the opening set, but neither side was able to build much of a lead early on. After Sonia McGaffigan's kill gave UR a 5-4 lead, the 'Jackets rallied for four-straight points, but Skidmore came right back with a run of their own, leveling the score at 9-9 on Jazlin Chen's ace.
A ball-handling error would give Rochester the serve after an 11-11 tie, and the 'Jackets would pull ahead, with kills from Ruby Moore and Caroline Hoag and Myla Nover-Estes' ace making it a 15-11 lead, and force Skidmore to use its first timeout.
The Thoroughbreds though, would keep things close and pull within one on a UR attack error, but after a Yellowjacket timeout, Jo Blanco's service error gave the 'Jackets the serve back and made it again a two-point lead. Hoag then smashed back-to-back kills to make it 24-20, before Nover-Estes finished off the set, 25-20, with a kill of her own to give UR a 1-0 lead.
Moore opened set two with a kill, but Skidmore pulled ahead with a bit of an early run, taking a 9-5 lead on Carolyn Scott and Ella Harris' block. Another Scott and Maya Stolarz block would put the Thoroughbreds up five, 12-7, and force UR to take a timeout, but Skidmore would keep the Yellowjackets at arm's length for much of the second set.
A quick three points from the Thoroughbreds extended Skidmore's lead to 18-10, before a UR run capped off by kills from McKenzie McDonald and McGaffigan, brought the 'Jackets within three, 19-16.
However, Skidmore wouldn't let UR get any closer, going up 22-18 on Scott's kill, before Stolarz made it 24-19 and Rudi Reyes evened up the match with a kill, giving the Thoroughbreds the set, 25-19.
The two sides then battled back and forth early on in set three, looking to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The third set saw ties of 3-3, 6-6, 7-7, 9-9, 10-10 and 11-11 before the 'Jackets scored five straight on Lydia Weeks' serve.
McGaffigan got the run started with a kill before back-to-back aces from Weeks made it a 14-11 UR lead. A point later, Weeks capped off the run with another ace, and the 'Jackets would let Skidmore get any closer the rest of the way.
Skidmore took another timeout down 20-14 following McGaffigan's solo block, but after a Thoroughbreds point, McGaffigan won the serve back with a kill and UR would hold Skidmore to just one point the rest of the set.
A service ace put UR up 23-15, and Nover-Estes' kill set up set point before Ashley Cook's kill from Paige Stephenson gave Rochester the set, 25-16.
Again, in the fourth set, UR and Skidmore traded mini runs with neither team able to push ahead by more than a few points. Two-straight kills by Cook gave Rochester an 8-4 lead, but the Thoroughbreds quickly tied the set at 9-9 on another block.
But after ties at 11, 12 and 13, the Yellowjackets went on a run, with three-straight kills from Areti Tsirikaki helping Rochester out to a 16-13 advantage and forcing Skidmore to take a timeout.
The 'Jackets kept things going out of the timeout, scoring three of the next four to make it a 19-14 lead, but the Thoroughbreds answered, pulling within one on Athena Braverman's service ace before tying the set at 21-all.
The final stretch of the fourth set saw ties at 22, 23, 24 and 25 before Tsirikaki smashed a kill from McDonald to make it 26-25, and then McDonald scored an ace to give UR the set, 27-25, and the match, 3-1.
Three 'Jackets tallied double-digit kills, with Nover-Estes tallying 13, Cook totaling 11 and McGaffigan with 10. McDonald notched another career-high with 45 assists, while Weeks led UR with three aces.
Defensively, Weeks also led Rochester with 14 digs, with Cook adding nine and Nover-Estes and Tsirikaki tallying eight apiece.
MATCH TWO: Rochester 3, Middlebury 2
Neither Middlebury nor Rochester was able to build much of a lead early in the opening set until the Panthers scored four in a row to take a 13-9 lead on Gabby Pribisch's ace and a pair of errors by UR.
But the 'Jackets kept things close, and after winning the serve back down 18-15 on Nover-Estes' kill, rattled off four-straight to take a 19-18 lead. The Panthers would quickly tie things up on a kill by Molly Harrison, but McGaffigan answered with a kill of her own.
A service error again knotted the score at 20, but Cook followed up a Middlebury attack error with an ace to put UR up 22-20, and they'd hold the Panthers to just one point the rest of the way, notching set point on another McGaffigan kill to take a 25-21, set-one victory.
Set two would again see two evenly matched sides, trading ties and small leads till the score stood tied at 18. Middlebury then took a 19-18 lead on a UR attack error, and Ava Tuccio made it 20-18 with a kill, forcing Rochester to take a timeout.
Tsirikaki smashed a kill out of the timeout, but back-to-back attack errors extended the Panthers' lead to three, 22-19. Moore and Katie Kraczkowsky traded kills to make it 23-20, but back-to-back kills from Molly Harrison and Lauren Baxter gave the Panthers the set, 25-20, evening the match at one set apiece.
The Yellowjacket would take command of set three early, turning a 5-4 deficit into a 9-5 lead with a 5-0 run to force a Middlebury timeout. Two aces from Moore highlighted the run, and the sophomore would knock down another following the Panthers' timeout to make it 10-5 in favor of UR.
And while Middlebury would answer with a run of their own, pulling within two on Lillian Caldwell's kill, the 'Jackets responded with four straight kills of their own, with McGaffigan hitting a pair and Cook and Nover-Estes each smacking one to put the 'Jackets up six, 15-9.
Rochester would then cruise to a third-set victory, leading by as many as 10 before McGaffigan connected on another kill to give the 'Jackets a 25-14 win in set three.
Set four would prove to be much closer, with Middlebury bouncing back from an early deficit and the Yellowjackets' leveling the score at 15-all on Moore's kill. But the Panthers would score three of the next four, taking a 19-16 lead on a UR attack error, and Rochester would take a timeout.
With a pair of kills from Tsirikaki, Rochester would cut the deficit down to just two, and then pull within one, 21-20, on McGaffigan's ace, but the Panthers would hold off UR's late charge. Up 23-22 following Moore's kill, a block error set up set point for Middlebury, and the Panthers would force a fifth set with Harrison and Pribisch's block, taking the fourth set, 25-22.
The 'Jackets again led early in the fifth set, and took a 9-5 lead on McGaffigan and McDonald's block, forcing Middlebury to take a timeout. But the Panthers would make their way back and tie the set at 11-all on Harrison's kill, before taking their first lead since it was 2-1 on Gabby O'Toole's ace.
Down 12-11, Rochester took a timeout, but an attack error and bad set brought up match point for the Panthers, up 14-11 on UR. However, two-straight attack errors and a bad set leveled the score at 14-all, and the Yellowjackets took advantage of three-straight Panthers errors, with Tsirikaki's ace giving Rochester a 15-14 lead.
Middlebury then called a timeout, but it would not matter, as Tsirikaki served up another ace to win the set, 16-14, and the match, 3-2.
As a team, Rochester hit 19 service aces, the second-most in a game in program history. UR also scored 56 kills, compared to just 46 for Middlebury, and hit .159 vs. 138 for the Panthers.
Individually, McGaffigan and Tsirikaki each scored 13 kills, while Cook added 11. McDonald again led UR with 44 assists, while both Moore and Tsirikaki notched seven service aces.
Defensively, Cooks tallied a team-high 17 digs for a double-double, with Weeks right behind her with 16. McDonald and Nover-Estes also tallied double-digit digs with 12 apiece, while McGaffigan led UR with two blocks and four block assists.