Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics
The Roadrunners won their first ECAC Championship in school history last Saturday, taking down Manhattanville College in the championship match, as Ramapo defeated the Valiants in four sets (25-14, 25-16, 24-26, 25-11).
After a 3-3 tie in the first set, Ramapo responded by scoring five straight points, as Emily Guzman recorded her second kill of the match, only to be followed by sophomore opposite Kelly Nichirco converting her first kill of the night. Larysa Iwaskiw, outside hitting powerhouse and Ramapo’s all-time leader in kills, converted two straight kills on two straight attempts, before Manhattanville’s Allison Regan had a kill attempt blocked by Iwaskiw and Guzman to wrap up the five-point run.
At that point, the Roadrunners led 8-3, and they never looked back, winning the first set 25-14.
However, the second set was a bit tighter, as the two teams were more evenly matched, but Ramapo used its philosophy on ball control to its advantage in order to take the second set 25-16.
The third set was the most competitive of the four sets. The Roadrunners were not as sharp as they were in the first two sets. At one point, the set was all knotted up at 22, but Manhattanvile held on by a thread as they won the third set 26-24.
In the fourth set, the Roadrunners were able to seal the deal as they dominated with a powerful performance. They won the fourth and final set 25-11.
Iwaskiw recorded a match high of 34 kills in addition to 17 digs and 34.5 points, as well as Guzman, who recorded 11 kills to go with an assist, two blocks, nine digs and 17 points. Freshman libero/defensive specialist Kristen Behrens had a match high of 30 digs to go with three assists, and Kaitlin Mac Iver had a match high 51 assists to go with a two kills and nine digs.
Seniors Mac Iver, Emily Harris, Cathryn Smart and Nicole Hermann ended their Roadrunner careers on the highest note possible, by going out with a historic championship. Mac Iver finished her career with the second most assists in Roadrunner history with 3,193 career assists and fourth on the all-time digs list with 976 career digs.
Harris finished her career second on the all-time digs list with 1,204, while Smart finished her career eighth on the all-time kills list with 702 career kills.
The Roadrunners completed the 2015 season with a 21-8 overall record and a 5-3 record against NJAC opponents.
pmcguire@ramapo.edu
