HOUGHTON, N.Y. – Houghton volleyball has advanced to its second-straight Empire 8 Tournament and third overall and will host Alfred University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in first round action at Nielsen Center.
 
The Highlanders earned the No. 4 seed after finishing the regular season with a 4-4 overall record and a 3-3 mark in the E8. The fifth-seeded Saxons finished 4-5 and 3-3 in the E8.
 
Houghton and Alfred split their two matches during the regular season with Houghton claiming the match that counted toward the E8 standings. That win gave the Highlanders the head to head tiebreaker for tournament seeding.
 
Second-year Head Coach Josh Tompkins was pleased with his young team's overall performance during the shortened regular season. "The regular season went fairly well for us. Seeing as we had graduated five seniors in the 2019-2020 year it was going to be a year of growth and development for a lot of the younger players," said Tompkins. "The girls made huge strides this season and really showed that they can be competitive in E8 play. Of our three conference losses, two of them were as evenly matched contests that you could get and we are looking forward to continuing to build on those experiences.

Tompkins said the development of his underclassmen was particularly noticeable and will be key to the team advancing through tournament play. "We really got a lot of experience and development from our sophomore class especially. They came into the season and really developed as a group and have shown a lot of progress. As a team we have grown mentally tougher and I think are better suited to deal with tight matches than we have before. We also have seen leadership from our juniors who have really stepped it up in all areas on and off of the court."

Heading into matchup three with the Saxons, Tompkins knows his team needs to be ready for a tight competitive battle. "Alfred is a solid team. We played them the first match of the season and it was a good match. I think we match up well against them offensively. They will be looking to push us and spread us defensively, but that is a strong suit of ours. We are very scrappy and throughout our season we have shown growth both from defensively and offensively. If we attack them starting with our serving it should be a great match for us."
 
A win for the Highlanders would earn them an away matchup with top-seeded St. John Fisher in the E8 semifinals on Thursday, April 22.
 
Tuesday's other first round match will feature No. 6 Utica against No. 3 Nazareth. That winner will face No. 2 Elmira in the second semifinal on Thursday.
 
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