Box Score

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – For the second time this season, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team rallied from two sets down to win in five, as the Hawks posted a 3-2 (23-25, 25-27, 25-23, 25-17, 15-8) come-from-behind victory over the Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday night at the Hawk Center in non-conference action.

After a second set that saw New Paltz hit just .048, the Hawks bounced back with a scorching .414 hitting percentage in the third. New Paltz limited the Ducks to just .023 hitting in the third, and a .429 clip for the Hawks in the fifth ultimately vaulted them to the victory.

New Paltz rises to 11-2 overall and stretches its winning streak to 10. The Hawks next compete at the Days Inn Blue Jay Classic hosted by Elizabethtown College from Friday-Saturday, Sept. 19-20, facing off with York (Pa.) College, Johns Hopkins University, Elizabethtown and Swarthmore College. Stevens falls to 8-3 and hosts Elmira College and Houghton College in an Empire 8 tri-match on Saturday, Sept. 20.

The Hawks controlled the momentum early in the first set and ultimately built up a 19-14 lead, forcing a Stevens timeout. The Ducks made adjustments and went on a 4-0 run of their own to draw within one at 19-18, and that prompted a New Paltz timeout. The two teams traded points until Stevens scored two straight to take the lead at 22-21, and after more back-and-forth play, a block assist by junior outside hitter Annemarie Thomas and sophomore opposite Christina Sciarra and a service ace by Sciarra gave Stevens the first set at 25-23.

Set two began similarly, with New Paltz taking a 3-0 lead out of the gates and the teams trading points the rest of the way. With Stevens up, 22-20, a Duck attacking error and a kill by junior outside hitter Becca Borquist (Rhinebeck, N.Y./Rhinebeck) knotted the score at 22-all. Stevens brought up set point after flooring back-to-back kills, but New Paltz benefited from consecutive Duck attacking miscues to tie the set at 24-all. After siding each other out on the next two points, the Ducks received a kill by senior outside hitter/middle blocker Katie Hall and an ace by senior setter Ashley Castillo to pull out the second set by a 27-25 final.

While New Paltz led 12-8 in the third, Stevens once again came back and held the lead heading into the stretch run of the set. Back-to-back New Paltz points off kills by sophomore outside hitter Anna Paulik (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) and senior right side Alex Bizub (Linden, N.J./Cranford) gave the Hawks a 22-21 edge, but Stevens notched back-to-back points in return to reclaim the advantage. With the score at 23-22 in favor of the Ducks, sophomore middle hitter Morgan Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) floored a termination to force a 23-all tie, and consecutive aces by sophomore libero Rachel Pierson (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) handed New Paltz a 25-23 triumph in the third.

While Stevens scored five straight points to construct a 9-7 cushion in the fourth, New Paltz went on a 6-0 run, which was capped off by back-to-back Stevens attacking errors. After the Ducks got the serve back, New Paltz compiled yet another string of points, with Pierson contributing two aces to the Hawks' cause during that span to help the home team engineer a 17-10 edge. Stevens was unable to score more than two consecutive points the rest of the set, and New Paltz cruised to a 25-17 win in the fourth to force a deciding set.

Stevens made things interesting before the turn in the fifth, as even though New Paltz jumped out to a 6-3 lead, back-to-back Duck points pulled Stevens within one. The two teams traded points until a Paulik termination gave the Hawks an 8-6 advantage at the turn. Both teams continued to battle during the next three points, but with the score at 9-8 in favor of New Paltz, the Hawks went on to score the final six points of the match. Back-to-back kills by Borquist and senior middle hitter Alli Coleman (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton Central) sealed the victory for New Paltz, keeping its winning streak intact.

New Paltz finished with a .259-.186 edge in hitting percentage, and the Hawks floored 11 aces to the Ducks' six. Furthermore, New Paltz outblocked Stevens, 8-6.

Four Hawks reached double-digit kill figures, led by Borquist's 19, which she achieved off a .265 hitting percentage. Roessler (12), Paulik (11) and Bizub (11) rounded out the remainder of New Paltz student-athletes to achieve that standard. Freshman setter Maddie Zwickl (Chester, N.Y./Warwick Valley) totaled a team-high 44 assists, while Pierson landed four service aces across just three sets played. Senior libero Katy Herbst (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) defended a match-high-tying 23 digs, with Borquist completing the double-double with 17 digs.

For Stevens, sophomore outside hitter Mary Tobin keyed the attack with 20 kills and added nine digs. Freshman outside hitter Brianna Evans notched 11 kills, while Castillo kept the offense moving with 51 assists. Freshman libero Sydni Horner tied Herbst for the match-high in digs with 23, and she also added three service aces.