Box Score CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team posted a 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-17) victory over Western New England University on Friday during the first day of the MIT Tournament hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the Rockwell Cage.
New Paltz rallied from an 18-14 deficit in the first set and ended up edging the Golden Bears by a 25-23 margin in the frame. From that point forward, the result of the match was never in question, as the Hawks took the second and third sets by matching scores of 25-17.
New Paltz rises to 15-7 overall with the result and finishes out action at the event tomorrow against St. Lawrence University (10:30 a.m.) and No. 23 MIT (1 p.m.). Western New England drops to 8-8 with the setback and faces No. 23 MIT (10:30 a.m.) and St. Lawrence (1 p.m.) tomorrow.
The Hawks finished with a .215-.155 advantage in hitting while posting a 13-4 edge in service aces and a 5-4 cushion in total team blocks.
New Paltz held the momentum for the first 13 points of the match, jumping out to an 8-5 lead in the first set. Western New England answered, however, going on a six-point tear that staked the Golden Bears to an 11-8 advantage. After the Hawks tied the score at 11-all, the two teams traded points before the Golden Bears went on a 5-1 run to construct an 18-14 lead. New Paltz countered by scoring six of the next seven points, which included two kills and a service ace by senior outside hitter
Becca Borquist (Rhinebeck, N.Y./Rhinebeck). That ended up giving the Hawks the cushion they needed to eke out a 25-23 victory in the first.
The second and third sets ended up being lopsided affairs, with the Golden Bears gaining just one lead the rest of the contest. The Hawks punctuated their evening with a .267 hitting percentage in the third stanza, which served as the best clip either team hit at in a single set all night.
Junior middle hitter
Morgan Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) keyed the Hawk attack with nine kills, and she also contributed defensively with four total blocks (three solo, one assist). Sophomore setter
Maddie Zwickl (Chester, N.Y./Warwick Valley) dished out 23 assists, while Borquist and junior liberos
Anna Paulik (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) and
Rachel Pierson (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) tied for the match-high in digs with eight each. Sophomore setter
Melannie Aquino (Billerica, Mass./Burlington) was solid from the service line with four aces.
For Western New England, senior outside hitter Kelsey Armstrong led the way with eight kills, while junior setter Jessica Sincero provided 16 assists. Sincero and junior setter Jenna Leuck also tied for the match-high in digs with eight apiece.
