In their final match of the season, the Oswego State volleyball team went on the road to take on the University of Rochester on Friday, Nov. 3. 

The first set was all about scoring runs as the Yellowjackets started hot with a 7-3 lead. After a Lakers point to make it 7-4, the Yellowjackets went on an eight-point run to push their lead to 15-4. The Lakers attempted to mount a comeback after two straight kills from Sydney Chiffriller and Georgia Farry, but the Yellowjackets closed out the set on a 4-0 run to take the first set 25-15. 

The Lakers finished the first set with seven kills and four errors on 22 total attempts compared to the Yellowjackets, who finished with 12 kills and five errors on 27 total attempts.

The second set saw more back-and-forth play. Each team traded points to begin the set until a Nyah Dias kill put the Lakers up 6-4. The Yellowjackets pulled ahead in the middle of the set after rattling off four straight points, and three kills coming from Bri Jones during the scoring run. Down 16-11, the Lakers cut the lead to 16-14, but the Yellowjackets lost their momentum and closed out the set on a 9-5 run to win the set 25-19. 

In the second set, the Lakers had five kills and five errors on 22 total attempts. The Yellowjackets ended the set with nine kills and five errors on 28 total attempts. 

The Yellowjackets continued their momentum from the first two sets and started on a 9-1 in the third set. After being down early the Lakers slowly clawed their way back to cut the Yellowjackets lead to 16-14 after some big points off a Cara Simplicio ace and a kill from Chiffriller. Despite flipping the switch in the set, the Lakers’ comeback fell short as the Yellowjackets were able to close out the set by a score of 25-20, giving them the match win 3-0. 

The Yellowjackets dominated the stat sheet as they outscored the Lakers in all the categories points: 55-28, kills 35-18, aces 15-7, blocks 5-3, assists 32-17 and digs 38-30. 

Looking at the team stats for the Lakers, Farry ended the match with six kills, Kaylee Troy had two aces and nine digs, Grace Taylor finished with three blocks and Dias tallied nine assists.

After the 3-0 loss to the Yellowjackets, the Lakers ended their season on a three-game losing streak to finish with a record of 6-16. The Lakers finished with a 3-6 conference record and missed out on the SUNYAC playoffs after losing the tie-breaker to Plattsburgh State. Their three SUNYAC wins came towards the end of the season against SUNY Potsdam 3-2, SUNY Oneonta 3-2 and SUNY Fredonia 3-2.

The Lakers struggled at home, going 1-8 this season after going 10-0 at home last season. They finished 4-5 on the road and 1-3 at neutral-site matches. 

The Lakers offense finished with 650 kills, with 8.3 kills per set. The Lakers struggled with their accuracy as they had a 9.7% kill rate compared to their opposition who had a 17.2% kill rate. Looking at the defensive side of the net, the Lakers finished with 13.9 digs and 1.5 blocks per set. 

Farry led the team in kills with 147 and led in blocks with 56. Emily Zeisler (231 assists) and Dias (203 assists) combined for more than half of the team’s total assists. Troy was a big part of the Lakers defense as she led the team and finished top-10 in the SUNYAC in digs with 280. The Lakers saw a lot of players serve the ball well as seven players had 10 or more aces on the season. Simplicio led the pack with 33, followed by Troy with 24 and Grace Taylor with 20. 

After a disappointing season, the Lakers will look to bounce back next year in their 2024 campaign.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics