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CORTLAND, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team (26-11) was unable to exact revenge against No. 18 SUNY Cortland (39-1) on Saturday afternoon in title match of the 2011 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Volleyball Championship Tournament, falling, 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-22), to the host Red Dragons at Whitney T. Corey Gymnasium.

In recognition of their strong contributions throughout the conference tournament, sophomore libero Carrie Hack (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) and senior outside hitter Melinda DiGiovanna (West Hempstead, N.Y./West Hempstead) were named to the All-Tournament Team.

This marked the fourth straight year that New Paltz has played in the SUNYAC title match. With the victory, Cortland earns the SUNYAC's automatic berth into the 2011 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament.

New Paltz, the East Division's No. 2 seed, led, 20-17, in the first set, but Cortland, the East Division's No. 1 seed, scored the next four points to go up, 21-20. Junior outside hitter Michelle Jacobson (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) tied the score at 21-all with a kill, but Cortland went back up by one 22-21 on the ensuing point. The Hawks tied the score once again, using a DiGiovanna kill, but the Red Dragons scored three of the set's final four points to go up 1-0.

Both teams battled back and forth early in the second, as there were seven ties, with the last coming at 13-13. Cortland scored the next three points and never trailed, putting the Hawks on the ropes with a 2-0 lead heading into the third stanza.

The two squads vied for the lead early once again, and the Red Dragons went up by three (16-13) midway through the set. New Paltz, however, hung around and came within one at 19-18 with a kill by junior middle hitter Dana Vosilla (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa). Cortland scored the next five points, four of which were on kills, to get to match point at 24-18. The Hawks fought off four straight match points on a service error, a kill by DiGiovanna, a Cortland ball-handling error and a Cortland attack error, but the Red Dragons finally ended the match with a kill.

DiGiovanna and Jacobson paced the Hawk offense with 11 kills each, and DiGiovanna completed the double-double—her 19th of the year—with 23 digs. Sophomore setter Marissa King (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua Academy) also posted a double-double with 32 assists and 10 digs, while Hack offered a match-high 27 digs.

For Cortland, Ashley Coyle had a standout match, hitting .357 off 20 kills and five errors in 42 total attempts. She, too, had a double-double, as she collected 15 digs as well. Jaclyn Lawrence kept rallies alive with a team-high 25 digs, and Kristen Guercio notched a double-double with 44 assists and 10 digs.

New Paltz finishes the season at 26-11 overall and 6-2 in the SUNYAC East Division. This marks the eighth straight season in which the Hawks have won at least 26 matches, and two statistical milestones were achieved this season: DiGiovanna reached 1,000 kills, and Hack achieved 1,000 digs. DiGiovanna wraps up her career at third on the all-time kills chart with 1,298.