Box Score POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team emerged victorious in a see-saw battle in the third set, which helped cap a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-23) victory over cross-river rival Vassar College on Wednesday night at Kenyon Hall in non-conference action.
The Hawks pieced together a .213 hitting percentage for the match and held significant margins in service aces (6-0) and total team blocks (8-3) over the Brewers.
New Paltz rises to 19-9 overall with the victory and closes out its regular season from Friday-Saturday, Oct. 30-31, at the Skidmore Tournament hosted by Skidmore College. Vassar drops to 13-14 with the loss and finishes its season in a tri-match on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Brandeis University.
Vassar controlled the tempo early in the first set, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. Two runs of four consecutive points helped New Paltz gain the advantage midway through the set, with a Brewer attacking error handing the Hawks a 13-12 lead. Following two Vassar points, New Paltz pulled away with a 5-0 tear, which gave the visitors an 18-14 edge they would not relinquish in that set.
The Brewers once again started off hot in the second, hopping out to leads of 4-1 and 6-4. A four-point scoring spree gave the Hawks the lead, with a service ace by sophomore setter
Maddie Zwickl (Chester, N.Y./Warwick Valley) giving New Paltz a 10-7 advantage. The Hawks slowly pulled away by scoring consecutive points four more times the remainder of the stanza, and a kill by junior right side
Katy Braddon (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua Academy) eventually handed New Paltz a 25-19 triumph in the frame.
Following a strong New Paltz start early in the third, Vassar put together one of its best runs of the evening, rattling off five straight points to capture a 9-6 lead. New Paltz eventually recaptured the advantage, but Vassar constructed yet another five-point tear, prompting a Hawk timeout. With the Brewers up two, the two teams traded points until four unanswered New Paltz points brought up match point at 24-22. A service error gave the Brewers the ball back on the serve, but junior middle hitter
Morgan Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) sealed the win with a kill on the ensuing rally.
Roessler and Braddon keyed a balanced New Paltz offense with nine kills apiece, while Zwickl dished out 31 assists. Defensively, Roessler finished with four total blocks (two solo, two assist), while junior libero
Rachel Pierson (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) defended a team-high 22 digs.
For Vassar, freshman outside hitter Devan Gallagher floored a team-high nine kills, while freshman setter Annie MacMillan distributed 20 assists. Senior libero Chloe Hallum paced the Brewers defensively with a match-high 29 digs.
