University of Rochester women's volleyball scored their second and third-straight victories on Saturday, topping Alfred University, 3-1, in their opening match of the day, before sweeping SUNY Oneonta, 3-0, in their second of two matches inside the Louis Alexander Palestra to run their non-conference win streak to 15-straight games. The Yellowjackets move to 16-8 with the two wins, while the Saxons dropped to 9-11 with the loss, and the Red Dragons to 5-19.
MATCH ONE: Rochester 3, Alfred 1
Paige Stephenson got the scoring start in the opening set with a kill, as the Yellowjackets raced out to an early 6-2 lead. The Saxons though, would answer back out of a timeout and eventually knot the score at 9-9, forcing UR to take a timeout of its own.
Rochester and Alfred then traded points, with ties at 10-10, 11-11 and 12-12, before UR went on a run to put the set out of reach. The 'Jackets scored seven in a row and 13 of the next 14 points, holding the Saxons to just one point the rest of the set.
After Alfred knotted the set at 12-all, Rochester turned a 12-12 tie into a 25-13 set-one victory, with UR recording points on six-straight McKenzie McDonald's serves, and another five off Ashley Cook's serve. Cook contributed two kills and a pair of aces over the run, with Stephenson notching another three and Mylar Nover-Estes scoring two.
Set two would prove to be much more back and forth, with the Saxons holding the early lead on UR. A service error put Alfred up 10-6, but with a 7-1 run, the Yellowjackets took just their second lead of the set, going up 15-13 on a pair of Saxon errors.
The 'Jackets kept their run going with another Stephenson kill, as well as Lydia Week's ace, before forcing a timeout up 18-14 with Cook's kill. But the Saxons would battle back, scoring three straight down 21-17 to pull within one and force UR to take a timeout.
And while Cook made it 22-20 out of the timeout, the Saxons finished the set on a 5-0 run to take the set, 25-22, and even the match at one set apiece.
Both teams would keep things close in the early goings of the third before another run put UR up big. Katie Westerheim broke a 7-7 tie with a kill from Cook, kicking off an 8-1 run for UR. Lily Kraemer served up four points before Alfred came up with a side out before McDonald added two more after UR won the serve back to make it 15-8.
Bri Jones tallied three kills over UR's run, helping Rochester out to a seven-point lead, but the Saxons again battled back, pulling within two with a 5-0 run of their own.
However, this time, the 'Jackets held their lead, as Nover-Estes slowed Alfred's run down with a kill, before a quick three points from UR brought the lead back out to five.
And while the Saxons would again pull back within two, 22-20, kills from Cook and Jones brought up set points, and after Delainey Sims scored for Alfred, an attack error gave the 'Jackets a 25-21, set-three win, and a 2-1 match lead.
The Yellowjackets would quickly get things rolling in the fourth as they looked to finish things off, opening an early 8-3 lead on a pair of kills from Caroline Hoag.
Alfred would again keep things close, twice cutting the deficit to three and then four, but another run helping UR finish off the set and eventually the match with a win. Up 15-11, Areti Tsirikaki smashed a kill and Hoag served up an ace to put UR up 17-11 before two attack errors made it 19-11.
With an eight-point lead, the Yellowjackets slowly pulled away, scoring the last four points of the fourth set to take it, 25-13, on Jones' kill, and the match, 3-1.
Cook led UR with a double-double, tallying a team-high 12 kills and 14 digs, with Weeks matching Cook's team-high digs. Stephenson also recorded 10+ kills with a season-high 10, while Jones added nine and Nover-Estes notched seven.
Cook and Weeks also added two service aces apiece, while McDonald led UR in the assist department with 40.
MATCH ONE: Rochester 3, SUNY Oneonta 0
Looking for their third-straight win, the Yellowjackets would race out to an early lead in the opening set against the Red Dragons. UR scored the first four points of the match on McDonald's serve, and up 8-5, went on a 7-0 run to take a 15-5 lead.
Two aces from Cook highlight UR's run, which forced the Red Dragons to take a timeout, but the 'Jackets kept the points coming, going back up on Tsirikaki's kill from McDonald.
And while a service error would give the serve back to Oneonta, another service error gave it right back to Rochester, and on McDonald's serve, UR added another five-straight points to go up 22-7, before UR eventually finished out the set with three more, taking the set, 25-8.
The Red Dragons would keep things closer in the second, matching the Yellowjackets run with one of their own midway through the set, leveling the score at 14-all on Sabrin Squicciarini's kill.
But once again, the 'Jackets put together a massive run, scoring the next 10 points after the 14-14, and forcing Oneonta to use both of its timeouts as UR went up 24-14 on one of three Cook kills over the 10-0 run.
Westerheim served up nine of the 10 points over Rochester's run, before the Red Dragons once held off set points, down 24-14, but Westerheim made sure they wouldn't hold it off for a second time, notching a kill of her own to give UR the set, 25-15.
The Yellowjackets then made quick work of the Red Dragons as they went for the sweep, scoring six-straight points after a service error put Oneonta up 1-0 in the third.
Rochester led by as many as 14, extending their lead to 17-4 with a 5-0 run, capped off by Maren Smith's kill before Smith's ace later made it 20-7.
Up 22-9, Tsirikaki notched an ace to make it 23-9, before Jones made it 24-10 with a kill, and back-to-back service errors gave Rochester the set, 25-11, and the match, 3-0.
Cook again led UR with a team-high 10 kills and eight digs, while Jones and Tsirikaki each tallied seven. Tsirikaki added a game-high five aces, while McDonald tallied 27 assists.
Defensively, Weeks and Westerheim added six and five digs, while Ruby Moore tallied a pair of block assists.