GENEVA, N.Y.—The William Smith volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 sweep of Buffalo State this evening in Bristol Gymnasium as it opened the 2025 William Smith Tournament. With the win, the Herons improve to 4-0 on the season, while the Bengals fall to 0-5 overall.
 
William Smith put on a dominant performance in the sweep, leading Buffalo St. in several statistical categories. The Herons put down 46 kills as a team, hitting an impressive .448 clip collectively, while the Bengals tallied 26 kills on a .091 hitting percentage. William Smith held a 9-3 edge in service aces as well as a 3-1 advantage in blocks. The Herons combined for 46 digs, while the Bengals tallied 32.
 
Senior outside Malya Sayre led William Smith with a match-high 21 kills, hitting an impressive .528 clip. She added six digs, one block and one service ace in the win. Senior Hope Von Dohlen (.600) and sophomore Arielle Newsome (.875) chipped in seven kills each and combined for two digs and two blocks in the nonconference matchup. Sophomore libero Kali Vanderhoof tallied a match-high 14 digs and added three assists, one service ace and a kill (1.000).
 
Delaney McCarthy (.444), Ella Wittman (.000) and Anel Acosta (.364) led Buffalo State with four kills each in the loss. Karlie Shaffer and Alex Arroyo recorded a team-high six assists each.

MATCH MOMENTS:

• The Herons came out firing in the opening set and put down 17 kills (.308) compared to the Bengals' seven (.057). Sayre and Newsome combined for 13 of those kills as William Smith earned a 25-16 win in set one.
• William Smith jumped out to an 8-0 run in set two behind a strong service run from sophomore Emily Fulton and never looked back. The Herons forced the Bengals out of system often as Buffalo St. tallied eight attack errors, handing William Smith an impressive 25-13 win in the second set.
• The Herons continued to roll in set three as they combined for a match-high 18 kills (.607) and kept the Bengals to just six kills (.192). Sayre fired off eight kills in the final set to lead William Smith to a dominant 25-12 win to close out the sweep.

MATCH STATS:

• Sayre led the Herons with 21 kills (.528), while Von Dohlen (.600) and Newsome (.875) chipped in seven each in the win. Fulton added five kills (.158), while senior Jaylynn McCarthy recorded three (.200) in the sweep.
• Sophomore setter Delainy Williams tallied a match-high 34 assists in the win. She added six digs, two kills (.333) and a block for the Herons. First-year setter Madilyn Kresl added four assists off the bench, including her first collegiate assist for William Smith.
• The Herons combined for 57 digs as a team and were led by Vanderhoof with 17. Montagne added 13 digs, while Sayre chipped in nine in the win.
• William Smith combined for 46 digs as a team and were led by Vanderhoof with a match-high 14. First-year Lily Wittgraefe added nine, while Fulton chipped in eight digs in the win.
• The Herons continued to impress from the service line and combined for nine aces as a team. Fulton led the way with a match-high four aces, while senior Cydney Fernandez added two in the sweep. Vanderhoof, Sayre and McCarthy added one ace each.

COACHES CORNER:

"What a way to open up competition on the brand-new floor in Bristol!" said Head Coach Derryk Williams. "Our team was sharp, focused, and had a ton of fun out there. It was really nice to see a lot of what we've seen in preseason translate to the court today. There were a bunch of standout performances but an even better team win! Back and focused to two more strong teams tomorrow so we have to be ready to go."

UP NEXT:
 
William Smith will be back in action tomorrow to compete on Day 2 of the William Smith Tournament. The Herons will take on Hamilton at 1 p.m., before closing out the action against Alfred at 6 p.m.