at Clarkson University's Alumni Gymnasium
Final Standings
1. Union (4-0)
2. Skidmore (3-1)
3. Vassar (2-2)
4. Clarkson (1-3)
5. St. Lawrence (0-4)
Full Weekend Statistics for Each Team
Clarkson University
St. Lawrence University
Skidmore College
Union College
Vassar College
Friday
4:00 pm
Clarkson 3, St. Lawrence 2 (20-30, 26-30, 30-26, 30-23, 15-11)
The Saints jumped out to a two-game lead after playing impressive defense and digging numerous tough balls, but Clarkson rallied back by matching St. Lawrence's intensity in the final three games. After digging only four balls in the first game and 10 through the first two, Clarkson freshman Alison Schroeder came through with 42 digs total, leading the Knights on the defensive end. Hilary Lockwood finished with 16 kills while Jessica Agnew and Amanda Rankin contributed 14 and 10 kills, respectively. Agnew also added 36 digs.
For the Saints, Tami Couch topped Schroeder with 44 digs. Jessica Lucky also came through with an impressive performance, posting 36 digs and 23 kills. Abby Rose assisted on 45 kills and dug 24 balls.
6:00 pm
Union 3, Skidmore 1 (30-28, 23-30, 30-24, 30-28)
A seesaw match from start to finish, the Dutchwomen survived the final game to pull out a four-game victory. Four players registered double-digits in kills for Union, led by Rachel Ormsby's 16. Julie LaSpina added 13 kills with an impressive .345 hitting percentage in the match, followed by Erin Schumaker and Bridget Little, who had 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Jennifer Merinder produced a solid all-around effort with 43 assists, 12 digs and 10 total blocks. In fact, the Dutchwomen had 23 total blocks with Ormsby and Schumaker recording 11 and 10 block assists, respectively.
Skidmore's Erica Duncan was the top performer in terms of kills for Skidmore, tallying 20 kills to go along with 21 digs. Murray Koch added 18 kills and Meredith Palmer had 16 kills with a team-best .282 hitting percentage. Becca Ormsby had 58 assists and Lauren Dinsdale led both team's with 34 digs.
Vassar 3, St. Lawrence 1 (30-19, 30-19, 27-30, 30-17)
After completing two well-played wins, the Brewers struggled in the third game against the Saints, who had just completed a five-game match against Clarkson. St. Lawrence played solid defense in the third game to rally back to within a single game of Vassar, but the overwhelming match against the Golden Knights hurt the Saints' chances in fourth game of the match.
Jessica Lucky finished with team-highs of 9 kills and 20 digs for the Saints. Tami Couch also contributed 20 digs defensively for St. Lawrence while Abby Rose had 29 assists, 9 digs and 2 aces. Julia Congdon aced the Brewers on five occasions in the match as well.
Vassar's Alia Al-Khatib hit a blistering .455 with 19 kills and just four errors against the Saints, adding in four aces. Tess Johnson, Sarah Potts and Cat Foley all reached double figures in kills as well and Amanda Hsiung contributed 47 assists.
8:00 pm
Skidmore 3, Clarkson 0 (30-23, 30-27, 30-20)
Led by Kaity Mahoney's .423 hitting percentage in the match, Skidmore recovered from a four-game loss to Union with a three-game sweep of the Golden Knights. The thoroughbreds used an 11-point run on one-rotation to battle back in game two and cruised through the third game to take the match.
Erica Duncan and Murray Koch matched one another with 17 kills, but Mahoney's 13 kills in 26 attempts with only two errors was the key highlight for the Thoroughbreds. Becca Ormsby added 49 assists and Lauren Dinsdale led Skidmore with 32 digs.
Jessica Agnew also hit well for the Golden Knights, converting 13 kills against just one error with a .316 hitting percentage. Alison Schroeder led the team with 20 digs and Amanda Rankin added a team-high 20 assists to go along with 13 digs.
Union 3, Vassar 2 (30-23, 24-30, 30-26, 18-30, 15-11)
The Dutchwomen placed themselves in excellent position to claim the Liberty League Championship title with just the bottom two seeds of the tournament, St. Lawrence and Clarkson, remaining on the schedule. Union ended a lengthy Vassar winning streak in the Liberty League Tournament as the Brewers were a perfect 4-0 in numerous conference championships since joing the Liberty League in 2000.
With the completion of Friday night's matches, the Brewers' Alia Al-Khatib became the first player in Vassar history to record 1,000 kills, 1,000 digs, and 1,000 assists in a career.
Rachel Ormsby led the Dutchwomen reached a team-high of 22 kills and also added seven blocks, including three solo. Julia LaSpina added in 13 kills and Jennifer Merinder contributed 47 assists, 12 digs, 5 aces, and 4 block assists.
Saturday
Seedings and records entering Saturday of the 2007 Liberty League Championships:
#1 Vassar (21-9).....(1-1 at LLC)
#2 Skidmore (27-9).....(1-1 at LLC)
#3 Union (26-11).....(2-0 at LLC)
#4 Clarkson (23-15).....(1-1 at LLC)
#5 St. Lawrence (19-17).....(0-2 at LLC)
11:00 am
Vassar 3, Clarkson 0 (30-27, 30-26, 30-22)
Vassar recovered from its first lost in the Liberty League Tournament since 2002 by beating the Golden Knights in straight sets and keep its tournament hopes alive. The first two games were tight from start to finish, but the Brewers controlled the final game and put Clarkson away in an hour and 32 minutes.
Alia Al-Khatib led the Brewers with 12 kills and was second with 18 digs while both Cat Foley and Tess Johnson each added in nine kills. Amanda Hsiung contributed 37 assists and 8 digs and Jasmin Iskandar led the both teams with 22 digs.
Clarkson's Hilary Lockwood scored 11 kills. Setters Jenna Stock and Amanda Rankin each produced double-doubles with Stock having 18 assists and 13 digs and Rankin coming through with 14 assists and 10 digs.
1:00 pm
Skidmore 3, St. Lawrence 1 (30-20, 30-10, 27-30, 30-15)
The Saints picked up their play in the third game after a lopsided loss, but were unable to continue the momentum into the fourth game as Skidmore improved to 2-1 at the tournament to keep its title hopes alive.
Erica Duncan led the Thoroughbreds with 19 kills and added in 19 digs to go along with three aces. Murray Koch continued her impressive display at the championships with 17 kills and a hitting percentage of .371. Meredith Palmer topped that with a .407 hitting percentage and 12 kills. Becca Ormsby assisted 51 times and Lauren Dinsdale led both teams with 23 digs.
For the Saints, Jessica Lucky had 10 kills and 10 digs while Abby Rose produced 31 assists, 17 digs and three aces. Tami Couch led the Saints with 18 digs as five different players reached double figures in that category. Skidmore hit at a .293 rate in the match while St. Lawrence swung at .073.
Union 3, Clarkson 2 (28-30, 26-30, 30-24, 30-15, 15-12)
Trailing after two tight games, the Dutchwomen put their hitters to work with 43 kills in the final three games to move to 3-0 in the tournament and clinch the Liberty League title. Rachel Ormsby led both teams with 21 kills and also added in 26 digs. Once again, the Dutchwomen used their height to tremendous advantage with 14.5 total team blocks with five solos and 19 block assists. Julie LaSpina contributed 15 kills and Jennifer Merinder added in 45 assists.
For Clarkson, Jessica Agnew scored 18 kills and 3 aces, becoming just the second player in Clarkson history to reach 80 aces in one year. Freshman Katie Fenner, seeing significant action for the first time in the tournament, also added 16 kills. Jenna Stock led the team with 36 assists and 21 digs, tying Alison Schroeder in the digging department.
3:00 pm
Union 3, St. Lawrence 0 (30-23, 30-27, 30-22)
The Dutchwomen completed their dominance of the 2007 Liberty League Championships with a three-game sweep of St. Lawrence to finish the tournament at 4-0. Erin Schumaker hit .419 in the match with 17 kills to lead Union and Rachel Ormsby and Julie LaSpina each added nine more kills. Jennifer Merinder also added 32 assists.
Jessica Lucky contributed nine kills for the Saints and Abby Rose led St. Lawrence with 23 assists while Tami Couch added in 19 digs and four aces. Lucky led the team with 20 digs.
Skidmore 3, Vassar 2 (23-30, 30-20, 27-30, 30-28, 15-6)
In what proved to be the second-place match of the tournament, the Thoroughbreds rallied from a 2-1 deficit to close out the championships one win short of 30 for the season (29-9). Meredith Palmer and Murray Koch each had 23 kills, with Palmer hitting .475 for the match. Erica Duncan also had 19 kills and 19 digs. Becca Ormsby produced 63 assists and 18 digs while Lauren Dinsdale dug 37 balls.
Vassar's Alia Al-Khatib led the Brewers with both 22 kills and 29 digs as three players surpassed 20 digs. Sarah Potts and Cat Foley each produced 13 kills and Tess Johnson came through with 12 kills and 20 digs. Amanda Hsiung assisted on 51 kills and dug 16 balls.
Seedings and records entering the 2007 Liberty League Championships:
#1 Vassar (20-8)
#2 Skidmore (26-8)
#3 Union (24-11)
#4 Clarkson (22-14)
#5 St. Lawrence (19-15)
