Women's Volleyball Swept At 2012 Elmira Invitational

ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Wells College volleyball team was swept by the Soaring Eagles of Elmira College  and the Tigers of the Rochester Institute of Technology Friday evening at the Spiedel Gymnasium. With the losses, Wells falls to 1-4 overall on the season while the Soaring Eagles improve to 3-0 on the year. The Tigers record was evened at 3-3 at day's end.

In the first game on the day, the Express fell to the Soaring Eagles of Elmira College by a 3-0 score. In the nightcap, the Tigers swept the Express in three sets.

"The Elmira Invitational is a great tournament and we saw great play from [our opponents] today," explained Head Coach Richard Gary following the day's activities. "We started nervous but we really worked ourselves out of it. [The second set against Elmira] had a bit of a let down from them while we picked up our attack efficiency and kept them from going on any runs. We competed for points more than any time before [in the third set] – it's great to see us keep improving each match."

Against Elmira, Wells collected 10 total kills in the match with Zakarra Butts (Cortland, N.Y.) posting a team-leading three kills. Setter Taryn Heath (Homer, N.Y.) led the team with six assists to her credit while libero Nicole Loeven (Pawling, N.Y.) led the team defensively with 12 digs to her credit. Loeven also chipped in four service aces to lead the team in that category.

For the Soaring Eagles, Sasha Zavadska posted a team-best 17 kills with 36 total attacks. Setter Molly Short assisted 31 of Elmira's 38 kills while three different Soaring Eagles posted six digs apiece to lead the team.

Against the Tigers, outside hitter Katie Curtin (Cassville, N.Y.) posted a team-best six kills and did not make a single error for a .420 hitting percentage. For the second straight game, Heath led the team with 11 assists to her credit. Defensively, Loeven posted nine kills while Gina Cairns (Delhi, N.Y.) and Curtin posted three digs apiece. Loeven and Curtain also posted six combined service aces for the Express.

"We are still finding improvements," explained Gary. "RIT is a very solid team and their size and speed of their offense is something we haven't seen so far this season. It was good for us to have to adjust to keep up – in the end, this was probably our best team performance, despite the scores."

The Express return to action Wednesday, Sept. 12 as they travel to face-off against the Hawks of Hilbert College in a 7:00 p.m. contest. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Wells College athletic department by "liking" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress) and subscribing to our Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/WellsExpress).