DELHI, N.Y. (October 31, 2021) – The 2021 SUNY Delhi women's volleyball season came to an end Sunday in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Western Division faceoff against SUNY Cobleskill, with the second-seed Fighting Tigers taking straight sets over the top-seed Broncos to advance to Saturday's NAC Championship at NAC East-winner Maine Maritime Academy. Delhi finished the season with hits highest win total since 2010 with a 21-6 mark.
The green and gold opened the matchup with an early 6-1 lead, brought on by an impressive five-point serving run from Sage Renneisen. Though Cobleskill fired back to cut things down to 8-6, the Broncos bumped their lead back up to seven points on two occasions at 13-6 and 14-7. The visitors refused to relent, eventually tying things up at 16-16 and catching fire to post a 25-20 win in the opener. Delhi broke off from a back-and-forth second frame, holding three five-point leads, including an 18-13 lead. Cobleskill, however, rallied again, stealing the next six points and 12 of the next 15 to go up two sets. The Broncos opened the third game strong with a 3-0 start, then posting three seven-point leads, with the latter at 18-11. The Fighting Tigers responded with five straight before Delhi called a timeout, though the run ensued to put them at match point at 24-20. The Broncos rallied with three points, only for an Abigail Scheurich kill to clinch the match for Cobleskill, 25-23.
SUNY Delhi finished the afternoon with an .046 hitting percentage on 30 total kills, with an even .000 second set sandwiched between .070 first and third sets. SUNY Cobleskill went .129 and 31, respectively, including a strong .250 percentage in the opening set. Three Fighting Tigers finished the afternoon tied for the match lead with seven kills, while the orange and black had 12 service aces to the green and gold's six.
Senior Witchney Clersainville finished tied for the team lead with six kills and posted one block solo and one block assist in her final career match. Stephanie Burke matched that kills total, while coming through with ten digs, two block assists, and one service ace. Grace Thomas had a match-best 21 digs and a team-leading 19 assists, and pulled the trigger on four kills and a pair of aces. Libero Rebecca Heuler posted 19 digs and four assists.
The 2021 SUNY Delhi women's volleyball season saw the program post their third 20-win season and first in their NCAA Division III era. Their last two were during the team's junior college days, tallying 22 victories in 2009 and a record 28 in 2010. The Broncos went a perfect 8-0 during the regular season against NAC West competition to earn the division tournament's top seed, including beating SUNY Cobleskill twice by way of four-set decisions. SUNY Delhi swept four-seed Cazenovia in its opening-round matchup Saturday, as did the Fighting Tigers on three-seed SUNY Poly. Clersainville and Heuler were both two-time NAC Defender of the Week selections, with Bailee Jones earning on Defender of the Week and Thomas one Player of the Week.
Clersainville finished her four years on the SUNY Delhi court with 556 career kills on a .221 lifetime percentage. She leaped to 185 total blocks, including 72 solo, while totaling 94 digs and 34 assists.
