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NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team won twice to open up the 12th-annual Hawks Invitational on Friday at the Hawk Center, downing SUNY Fredonia, 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20), before sweeping Mount Saint Mary College, 3-0 (25-7, 25-17, 25-7).

New Paltz rises to 8-2 with the wins and stretches its winning streak to seven. The Hawks close out play at the event tomorrow, squaring off with Farleigh Dickinson University-College at Florham at 11 a.m. before finishing with a 3 p.m. matchup with New York University at 3 p.m. Fredonia dropped to 5-4 with the loss, while Mount Saint Mary fell to 6-6.

New Paltz 3, Fredonia 1

Fredonia gave the Hawks all they could handle in the first match of the weekend, bouncing back from a lopsided first-set loss with a second-set win and strong play in the third and fourth sets.

New Paltz trailed just once in the first set en route to hitting .367 for the frame. After the Blue Devils pulled within four at 10-6, the Hawks went on a 5-0 tear and never led by fewer than five points the rest of the stanza.

Fredonia made things interesting in the second set, going on a 5-1 run late in the frame to take a 21-20 lead. Following a New Paltz timeout, the Hawks received a block assist from senior middle hitter Alli Coleman (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton Central) and junior outside hitter Becca Borquist (Rhinebeck, N.Y./Rhinebeck) to tie the score at 21-all, but three kills and a service ace ultimately gave the Blue Devils the 25-21 victory in the second.

Back-and-forth play defined the tempo of the third set. After Fredonia drew within two at 22-20, the Hawks scored two straight points to force set point. The Blue Devils scored three consecutive points to pull within one, but following a Hawk timeout, sophomore middle hitter Morgan Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) floored a termination to give New Paltz a 25-23 triumph in the set.

Thanks to strong play early in the fourth, New Paltz built a large enough cushion to prevent Fredonia from making a run. Following a Hawk attacking error that made it a two-point game at 21-19 in favor of New Paltz, the Hawks scored four of the final five points of the set to clinch the match victory.

New Paltz held a slight edge in hitting percentage (.209-to-.160) and was dominant at the net with 11 total team blocks, seven of which involved Coleman. Furthermore, the Hawks landed nine service aces.

Roessler and Borquist powered the Hawk attack with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, while Roessler also fashioned an impressive .423 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Maddie Zwickl (Chester, N.Y./Warwick Valley) dished out 24 assists, while senior libero Katy Herbst (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) defended a match-high 16 digs. Borquist completed the double-double with 10 digs, and she also had five service aces to her credit.

For Fredonia, sophomore outside hitter Sara Madison, junior middle blocker Jessica DiChristopher, sophomore opposite/outside hitter Megan Collins and junior opposite Paulina Rein accounted for most of the Blue Devils' offense, collecting 15, 12, 10 and nine kills, respectively. Junior setter Kelly Edinger helped keep the offense moving with 39 assists, while Rein tallied a team-high 13 digs.

New Paltz 3, Mount Saint Mary 0

New Paltz limited Mount Saint Mary to a -.106 hitting percentage en route to a straight-set sweep. The Hawks, who assembled a .323 hitting percentage for the match, also landed 16 service aces and posted six total team blocks.

The only set in which Mount Saint Mary made things competitive was the second, as the Knights seized a 7-6 lead early. A 5-0 New Paltz scoring spree, though, which was capped off by a Coleman service ace, gave the Hawks the momentum they needed to cruise to a 25-17 victory in the stanza. New Paltz won the first and third sets by matching 25-7 scores.

Everyone got a chance to take the court for the Hawks in the win, with Borquist's six kills leading all players. She finished the evening with 1,005 kills on her career and now boasts more than 1,000 kills and digs. Zwickl and freshman setter Melannie Aquino (Billerica, Mass./Burlington) doled out 12 and 10 assists, respectively, while sophomore outside hitter Anna Paulik (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) provided six digs. Junior right side Nyah Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) was especially strong from the service line, flooring five aces against just one service error.

For Mount Saint Mary, senior middle blocker Natalie Candarelli and junior outside hitter Kayla Kurka each had three kills, while sophomore setter Claire Scully notched nine assists. Freshman libero Chelsea Barberan secured the match-high in digs with 10 on the contest.