The Houghton Women’s Volleyball team started off their conference play this past week with a win against Utica College taking the match 3-0 and a loss against Steven’s Institute of Technology with a score of 0-3. This past Tuesday, they faced off against St. John Fisher College and after forcing a 5th set they came up just short ending the night with a 2-3 loss. Last year the Houghton Women’s Volleyball team ended 5th in the Empire 8 with an overall record of 4-4 in conference play. The women’s team looks to improve upon last year’s results and make it to the post season tournament this year by being in the top 4 in their conference. The team also defeated Alfred State College by a score of 3-1 to improve their record to 7-9 overall on the year.
During the Steven’s Tech. match on last Saturday Senior Erica Barnes reached and surpassed the 1,000 digs milestone. Erica recorded 90 digs as a freshman, 422 as a sophomore, 331 as a junior, and through the first 15 matches of the year she has 174 digs. “I’m just glad I could contribute to my team in whatever way they need me…I’m extremely thankful for Coach Cole and the opportunities that she gave me to be on the court.” stated Erica. She also said how grateful she is and how special this milestone was that she was able to reach it while playing alongside lifelong friends. Senior teammate Anna Coryell reached a milestone of her own the week before by surpassing 3,000 assists in her career at Houghton College.
They take the court again this weekend at D’Youville College Friday night and at home on Saturday against SUNY Geneseo at 7pm in the Nielsen Physical Education Center.
The Houghton College Women’s Tennis team also saw some important play this past week in the Empire 8 conference. They played Utica College on Saturday, September 23 and dominated with an 8-1 victory. Kaylee Jentsch fought hard for the sweep at singles against Utica by winning her match in a tie-breaker. After losing the first set 2-6 Jentsch fought back to earn the win in the second set 6-2 and used this momentum to seal off the match with a close 10-8 win in the tiebreaker. In the 2nd set and tiebreaker Jentsch found success using her favorite shots and by implementing her favorite strategy. She used the drop shot to lure in her opponent and the lob shot to put the point away. “The strong win over Utica gives us good momentum for our last 3 E8 matches, which are all critical to us making the championships,” said Jentsch when reflecting on the match.
This win brings their conference record to 2-3 on the year. The women’s team ended last year’s season with a 3-5 record in the empire 8 conference. They finished tied for 5th place in the conference last year and look to advance this year to the conference championships by breaking into the top 4. “With Alfred, Elmira, and Hartwick left on our schedule for conference play I know we can compete for and earn a spot in the top 4 this year.” said Captain Jacqi Lewis.
The women’s tennis team also defeated SUNY Brockport in a close 5-4 match on Friday the 22nd. Their overall record comes to an impressive 4-3 on the year.
The Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams saw success this past week with both teams being recognized with an athlete receiving NCCAA Division 1 National Cross Country Student-Athletes of the week. Sophomore Tyler Deuschle for the men’s team finished 27th at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational at Robert’s Wesleyan College with a time of 28:01. Deuschle led the charge for the Highlanders to earn 7th place out of 21 teams in the 8k race. Sophomore Shelby Langlois lead the women’s team to a 10th place finish out of 20 teams in their 5k race at the same invitational.
The Cross Country teams see action again on October 7 at 11am on the Field of Dreams in Houghton, NY. Houghton College hosts the Highlander Invitational, which is the NCAA Atlantic Regional Preview. The NCAA Atlantic Regional Championships will be held at Houghton on November 11th.
The men’s soccer team split on the week with a commanding 5-1 win over Hilbert College and a 1-3 conference loss to the Sage Colleges. Freshmen Noah Ewing and Julius Klohr both notched their first career goals as highlanders and sophomore Ben DiCrasto had his first hatrick in their game against Hilbert to lift the Highlanders. The men’s soccer team will see action this week against conference rival Steven’s Institute of Technology on Saturday the 30th.
The women’s soccer team started their conference play this week with a tough road loss to a tough St. John Fisher squad 0-1. They also faced a tough University of Rochester team on the road and came away with a 0-2 defeat. The women’s soccer team squares up against Utica College on Saturday and Penn State Behrend University on Tuesday, October 3.
After starting 3-0 the women’s field hockey team lost 4 straight. They got back on track this past week with a commanding 7-1 win over Wells College. This win puts them at 4-4 on the year. They will face off against Hartwick University on Saturday in an important conference game and again on Tuesday, October 3 against SUNY Oneonta.