BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Senior outside hitter Kayla Barber lowered the hammer often during Tuesday evening's nonconference senior day match versus Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the Jim and John Vlogianitis Gymnasium.
Brockport (29-1 Overall) stumbled a bit out of the gate but rallied in the first set to win and close out the Tigers 3-0 in a little less than one hour. The Golden Eagles won 25-21, 25-17 and 25-19 for its 26th match victory in 3-0 fashion on the season.
Brockport trailed by a score of 16-12 in the first set before a pass from Noelle Poloncarz to middle Brianna Richardson led a five point swing that gave the Golden Eagles the 17-16 advantage. Reigning Brockport and State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Player of the Week Sam Holdredge served the ball for the lead change including an ice to tie the score at 16-all.
RIT momentarily tied the score again at 17-all before back-to-back kills from Barber gave Brockport the lead it would not relinquish. Kathleen Irwin closed the first set in fashionable style with an ace and the decisive 25th point.
The Golden Eagles found themselves in an early hole before Irwin went on a tear from the service line in the second set. She stepped to the service line as Brockport trailed 3-2 and led the Golden Eagles on an 11 point swing. Her stellar serves caused RIT to use both of its second set timeouts during that span. During that span, Irwin totaled three more aces while sophomore Emily Flohr contributed two kills. The Green and Gold cruised to a 25-17 win.
Midway through the third set RIT and Brockport were tied 14-all. The Golden Eagles utilized quality service from Holdredge to take a 19-14 lead. Barber served for the final two points of the match in which Poloncarz and Flohr connected for the second last point of the match. An error from RIT was the final point.
Barber led the team with 15 kills with Holdredge and Flohr combining for 12 more. Irwin totaled five aces and led the team with 14 digs. Poloncarz facilitated the offense with 29 assists while Brockport utilized a strong blocking game to score eight points. Flohr led the team with five block assisted blocks and Barber added four total including a solo block.
The Green and Gold travel to Keuka to play the Wolfpack and Morrisville on Saturday. Be sure you stay up to date on all your Golden Eagles scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking the "Brockport Golden Eagles" Facebook page.
