UTICA, NY (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) -The SUNY College at Old Westbury women’s volleyball traveled to Utica, New York for the SUNYIT Wildcat Classic (Sept. 28-29). Old Westbury finished with a 1-3 record, earning a 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-14) victory over Wells to open play on Saturday morning. Old Westbury suffered setbacks against Cazenovia (22-25, 24-26, 25-18, 11-25), SUNYIT (16-25, 20-25, 23-25) and Rochester Institute of Technology (13-25, 20-25, 14-25) at the two-day classic. The Panthers move to 7-13 on the season.
In the opener against Cazenovia, Rayn Brown nailed down a career-best 11 kills on 40 swings to hit .125 while posting three solo blocks. Jennifer Jean and Kimberly Catania followed with six and five kills, respectively. Catania combined her 22 assists and 25 digs to notch her 12th double-double of the season, while serving up a season-best five aces. Jennifer Jean tallied 12 blocks and 12 digs to post her third career double-double. Allie Giancola chipped in with 28 digs while Courtney Gallagher went for 12 and three aces. Juliann Heigel led SUNYIT with a match-high 13 kills and Samantha McCarthy’s 28 assists. SUNYIT outhit Old Westbury .116 to -.025.
SUNYIT’s Kaitlyn Harrington and Hanne Saarinen led the Wildcats with 15 kills each in a three-set victory over the Panthers. Jocelyn Small paced Old Westbury with eight kills and three solo blocks. Kimberly Catania added her 13th double-double of the season, finishing with 18 assists and 18 digs to go along with seven kills and two aces. Allie Giancola scooped up a match-high 30 digs. SUNYIT tallied 38 kills to Old Westbury’s 31 to hold a 2.38 to .155 hitting advantage.
LEHMAN LIGHTNING UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS: Old Westbury returns to the court for a non-conference battle against the visiting Lehman Lightning on Tuesday (Oct. 2) in Old Westbury, New York. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. from Panther Park.
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