SUNY Niagara has season end in sub-regional for second straight year
SUNY Niagara's women's volleyball season came to a close against Onondaga CC in four sets, 16-25, 16-25, 25-22, 16-25, in a NJCAA Region III sub-regional contest Tuesday in Syracuse. This was SUNY Niagara's second NJCAA postseason appearance in as many seasons and only the third time since 2014. The Thunderwolves finished the season with a 6-15 record, tying their win total from last season.
Cait Cliffe's streak of consecutive matches with double-digit kills did not extend to a 12th match, but she finished with team-highs of nine kills and nine digs in her final SUNY Niagara appearance. In her final outing, Ava Gaudy recorded 36 of the Thunderwolves' 41 assists. Alexis Majka closed out her blue-and-gold career with four kills, two digs and one block.
Sariah Tindal finished with six kills, six digs, three service aces and one block. Ava Roberts had seven kills, seven digs and three service aces. Nevaeh Hall had four kills, four digs and two blocks and Jordan Smith added four digs.
NOTES:
The nine kills against Onondaga ended Cliffe's streak of 11 consecutive matches with double-digit kills. Had double-digit kills 23 times in her career (16 this season) and in 20 of her last 27 matches, a stretch that began when she had 16 kills versus SUNY Broome on Oct. 12, 2024. Named the NJCAA Region III Player of the Week on Sept. 30, Cliffe was the team leader in kills (279) and digs (154) and finished with 446 kills and 356 digs in 41 matches. Cliffe recorded her 300th career kill against Erie CC on Sept. 27 and her 400th career kill against Onondaga CC on Oct. 11. Cliffe also posted her 300th career dig in the same contest with the Lazers on Oct. 11.
With 36 versus Onondaga, Gaudy recorded double-digit assists in 12 consecutive matches and finished the longest streak in her SUNY Niagara career. The NJCAA Region III Player of the Week on Sept. 23, Gaudy recorded her 500th career assist in a regional pod contest against SUNY Adirondack on Sept. 13 and later recorded her 900th in the WNYAC semifinal against Monroe Oct. 25. Gaudy finished her career with 963 assists (532 this season) in 41 career matches, the most by a Thunderwolf in the last 10 seasons (since 2016). Gaudy's 532 assists this season were the second-most by a SUNY Niagara setter in the last decade-plus, trailing only Anniella Csawykus' total of 648 in 2014.
Majka finished her career with 130 kills (91 this season), 27 digs (21 this season) and 52 blocks (team-high 33 this season) in 41 career matches. Majka recorded her 100th kill during a match with Roberts Wesleyan JV on Oct. 9 and her 50th career block in a NJCAA Region III pod versus Corning on Oct. 11.
Tindal tied her season-high of three service aces for the third time this season and recorded her 11th career match with at least five kills. Tindal finished her freshman campaign second on SUNY Niagara in kills (95) and digs (114).