FINAL SCORE: #2 Rochester College 3, #4 SUNY Canton 1

FIRST SET: 25-20| SECOND SET: 25-21| THIRD SET: 22-25 | FOURTH SET: 25-23

LOCATION: Convention, Athletics, Recreation Center (CARC), SUNY Canton

TOURNAMENT RECORDS: Rochester College 4-2, SUNY Canton 5-1

ON THE COURT: In the first semifinal match of the 2014 USCAA Volleyball National Championship, #2 Rochester College defeated #4 SUNY Canton in four sets, 3-1 (25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23), to advance to the National Championship match later this afternoon.

Rochester College took the slight advantage to begin the first set, 12-9, before they were able to put together a 5-2 mini run to give themselves 17-11 lead over the Kangaroos. The Warriors continued to take advantage of costly Kangaroo errors to force a SUNY Canton timeout with a 19-15 lead. Both teams traded points back and forth to end the match with a 25-20 set victory for the Warriors.

The Warriors started the second set using efficient offense to take a 10-4 lead over the Kangaroos.  A streak that forced USCAA Coach of the Year, Carol LaMarche, to take her first timeout of the set.  The Warriors continued to increase their lead to 14-6, and forced the last timeout for the Kangaroos.  The Kangaroos dug deep and began to put together a run of their own to get back into the set, 21-20, however, Rochester ended the set on a 4-1 run to take a 2-0 advantage in the best of five match.

The third set was a back and forth affair from the start of the set to the end with SUNY Canton leading the entire way and having the biggest lead of five at 18-13. SUNY Canton committed only three errors in the third set, but with the strong play from freshman, Lexus Medina, enabled the Warriors to climb back into the set at, 22-19, before falling to the Kangaroos, 25-22.

Play started off just as even as the previous three sets between the two teams.  With the Kangaroos leading 8-6, Rochester managed to put together a 10-2 run to take a 16-10 lead that they would not surrender.  The Kangaroos dug deep to keep the score close but timely errors and Rochester's run were too much to overcome as Rochester took the fourth set, 25-23, and the match, 3-1.

QUICK HITTERS:

• Second Team All-American, Lexus Media, led Warriors with a game-high 19 kills
• Junior, Kayla Loepp, recorded a game-high 28 digs for the Warriors
• First Team All-American, Mackenzie Mynter, recorded a game-high 28 assists for the Kangaroos
• Senior, Jessica Reynolds, led the Kangaroos with 17 kills, while also recording 9 digs

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Lexus Medina, Rochester College

NEXT UP: With the victory, #2 Rochester advances to the 2014 USCAA Volleyball National Championship match against the winner of the #1 Florida College/ #3 Alfred State College semifinal in the Convention, Athletics, Recreation Center (CARC) at 4:00pm.  #4 SUNY Canton goes to the third place match against the loser of the Florida College/ Alfred state College semifinal at 2:00pm.