Little Earns Bronze at Empire State Games
7/28/2010 4:15:40 PM | Volleyball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Rising junior outside hitter Erin Little led the Adirondack region open team to a bronze medal finish at the 32nd annual Empire State Games in Buffalo, N.Y.
Little was one of 10 members of the Adirondack roster, which also included current student-athletes from Siena, Union and Houghton College. Graduated senior middle blocker Sarah Morton joined the Adirondack squad in Buffalo, but was unable to play due to her professional status. Little and Morton rejoined their Burnt Hills High School coach Gary Bynon, who guided the squad to its medal finish.
Empire State Games open volleyball is a pool tournament followed by double-elimination playoffs. Teams play a best of three series to 25 with the third game to 15.
“The Empire State Games has always been a fun part of my summer,” Little said. “Especially this year because it was the first time in 15 years that our team has medaled.”
Despite an 0-3 start on the first day of pool play, the Adirondack team made a comeback on day two, sweeping a pair of games to finish fourth and advance to the playoffs.
Little led the Adirondack's to an opening round playoff win against New York City and an upset of top-ranked Central in three games (25-22, 22-25, 15-12) in the second round. Syracuse volleyball was also represented in the Central region, with assistant coaches Carol LaMarche and Shawn Mahmoudi on the roster.
“Part of the fun of the Empire State Games was being able to play against Carol and Shawn,” Little said. “Upsetting the Central team was almost like winning the national championship for our team, we were that pumped.”
The Adirondack's had its playoff win streak snapped by Western and had to play Central for a second time in the silver/bronze match. Central came out with a victory giving the Adirondack's the bronze medal for the tournament. A loss to Western in the tournament final gave LaMarche, Mahmoudi and the Central team the silver medal.
