Anthony Cittadino
Staff Writer

The Utica College women’s volleyball team kicked off the 2015 season with a four game tournament hosted by SUNY Cortland. Despite four losses, the team was encouraged with the weekend.

The Pioneers started the tournament off against Wells College. This match ended at 3-0. Even though UC did not win one set, they improved throughout the match. The first set ended at 25-10, the second ended at 25-13 and the match concluded with a final set of 25-19. Junior Brandi Blaszak led the way with eight kills and senior Lora Allen added ten assists for a solid first match.
UC’s next match was against the University of Rochester. The Pioneers looked much stronger in this contest, losing 3-1. Freshman Hannah Voss led UC with 13 kills and one ace. Voss was very pleased with her performance,
“It’s pretty cool knowing that I made a big impact on a collegiate level team,” Voss said. “I think we all played very well and left it all on the court, due to the fact that the teams we played were very good.”
The Pioneers also had help from senior Alexis Lyon with a team high of 22 digs.
In day two of the invitational, the Pioneers took on Buffalo State. This match was also a tough one that ended in a 3-0 victory for the Bengals. UC may have struggled, but Voss had another great game adding 11 kills on to the weekend.
Although the Pioneers didn’t finish the weekend off with a win, the team is coming closer together as team.
“I think we all mesh really well on the court,” Voss said. “Since this was our first time playing a consistent game, I think we learned a lot about each other and how we play. We’re all really close and have a lot of fun together.”
Their final match ended in the same result of 3-0 to SUNY Cortland. The Pioneers may have started out the season 0-4, but Lyon was named to the All-Tournament team for her outstanding performance.
The Pioneers will head to SUNY Potsdam for another four-match tournament this weekend.