Box Score FREDONIA, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team put itself in the driver's seat to host the 2014 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament on day one of the third and final SUNYAC Pool Play hosted by SUNY Fredonia at Dods Hall Friday afternoon, defeating the host Blue Devils, 3-1 (25-27, 25-17, 25-13, 26-24).
New Paltz will lock up the No. 1 seed and hosting duties for the SUNYAC Tournament tomorrow if it wins just one of its two matches. It also would secure the top seed by Fredonia and SUNY Geneseo each losing once.
The Hawks rise to 23-5 overall and 7-0 in the SUNYAC with the win and take on Geneseo and SUNY Oswego tomorrow at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively. Fredonia drops to 19-8 (6-1 SUNYAC) and faces Oswego (10 a.m.) and Geneseo (12:30 p.m.) tomorrow.
New Paltz bounced back from a tough 27-25 first-set loss to the Blue Devils in front of their home crowd by taking the second and third sets in convincing fashion. The Hawks saw a relatively big lead evaporate in the fourth, but they ended up hanging on for a 26-24 triumph to clinch the match win.
The Hawks outhit the Blue Devils, .203-to-.073, for the match, and they had nine service aces to Fredonia's two. New Paltz also finished with a 9-6 margin in total team blocks.
Junior outside hitter
Becca Borquist (Rhinebeck, N.Y./Rhinebeck) came up big with 18 kills, a .300 hitting percentage and 13 digs, while senior middle hitter
Alli Coleman (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton Central) added 12 kills. Senior libero
Katy Herbst (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) defended 21 digs, while freshman setter
Maddie Zwickl (Chester, N.Y./Warwick Valley) dished out 49 assists.
For Fredonia, junior middle blocker Jess DiChristopher and junior opposite Paulina Rein posted 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while junior setter Kelly Edinger doled out 30 assists. Junior libero Lauren Hokaj finished with 24 digs, while freshman middle blocker Jane Garrity collected three block assists.