Women’s Volleyball Defeated Twice To Open Ithaca College Invitational

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Wells College women's volleyball team dropped both contests on Friday to open play in the Ithaca College Invitational, held on the campus of Ithaca College within the Ben Light Gymnasium. With the losses, Wells overall record stands at 4-16 overall on the year following the non-conference games.

Wells faced-off against Medaille College in the afternoon's opening match – the Mavericks were able to collect a 3-1 victory via set scores of 23-25, 25-16, 25-14 and 25-17. In the match, Wells jumped out of the gate with a victory in the first set, edging their opponent by a 25-23 score before falling in three of the following sets.

With the score deadlocked at 23 aside, libero Nicole Loeven (Pawling, N.Y.) registered a service ace to place the Express within one set of victory. With the next Loeven serve, a Medaille defender committed an error to grant the Express the first set victory. In the first set, sophomore Zakarra Butts (Cortland, N.Y.) hammered home two service aces while classmates Gina Cairns (Delhi, N.Y.) and Taryn Heath (Truxton, N.Y.) each contributed four digs en route to the victory.

The remainder of the game, however, was controlled by Medaille as they were able to keep the Express at arm's length in the remaining three sets. Cumulatively, freshman Meredith Kadjeski (Trumansburg, Pa.) led all players with nine kills to her credit while Heath assisted 19 of her team's 27 kills. Defensively, Cairns led all Wells players with 11 digs on the match. Butts registered a whopping five service aces overall, leading Wells in that category.

Jenna Cleversley powered home 17 kills for Medaille while Simmone Talford assisted 37 of her team's 49 total kills. Defensively, three players contributed with 10-plus digs, including Alexandra Lawson, Maria Antsupova and Cleversley.

Against Messiah in the afternoon's second match, the Falcons were able to collect the 3-0 victory in straight sets (25-14, 25-12, 25-12). Kadjeski forced home 10 kills on the match while Cairns ranked second with four to her credit. Heath assisted 11 kills while Loeven chipped in with 10 digs on the match.

For the Falcons, their team leader in kills was Kristen Douglas – she registered six kills before being removed from the game. Jessica Geib assisted 19 of her team's 38 kills while Douglas also notched a team-leading eight digs defensively. Messiah posted 13 service aces on the match opposing the Wells total of four.

Wells returns to action Saturday, Oct. 12 as they face-off against the tournament host Ithaca College Bombers in a 10:00 a.m. match in the Ben Light Gymnasium.