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BROCKPORT, N.Y. – The second-seeded State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team fell, 3-1 (25-17, 25-12, 24-26, 25-20), to top-seeded The College at Brockport at Brockport's Jim and John Vlogianitis Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament final.
 
Senior outside hitter Becca Borquist (Rhinebeck, N.Y./Rhinebeck) and sophomore libero Veronica Matedero (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) were selected to the All-Tournament Team as a result of their performances throughout the course of the weekend.
 
Borquist, the team's lone senior, finished her career as one of top student-athletes in the history of the New Paltz women's volleyball program, as she is now ranked among the program's all-time leaders in kills (1,744, second), digs (1,647, fourth) and service aces (200, fifth). She also is one of only two student-athletes in the history of the program to compile at least 1,500 kills and 1,500 digs.
 
Brockport, which rises to 33-1 overall with the win, earns the SUNYAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament and captures its first conference title since 1991. New Paltz ends its season at 22-11 overall and extended its streak of consecutive SUNYAC final appearances to three.
 
New Paltz, which cruised to a straight-set win over third-seeded SUNY Oswego in the semifinal round, ran into an elite Brockport squad in the final that has lost just once all season and topped the Hawks, 3-2, at the Hawk Center back on Oct. 24. New Paltz ended up hitting well in the third and fourth sets to finish the afternoon with a positive hitting percentage of .034, while Brockport's offense fired on all cylinders all afternoon, with the Golden Eagles hitting .229 as a team. Brockport outblocked New Paltz, 11-6, while the Hawks held a 10-6 edge in service aces.
 
The Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set, and after the Golden Eagles clawed back, the two teams went point-for-point until Brockport broke the set open with a 6-0 run, staking itself to a 17-11 advantage. That wound up being all the separation the Golden Eagles needed to prevail, 25-17, in the first.
 
Set two was all Brockport, as the home team scored seven unanswered points on two separate occasions to open up a 17-4 lead. New Paltz did play better down the stretch, but the deficit was too large to overcome, as the Golden Eagles emerged with a 25-12 triumph in the second.
 
New Paltz showed mettle in the third set, using aggressive serving and hitting to leap out to a 17-12 advantage. Following a Brockport timeout, the Golden Eagles went on a 4-0 surge to draw within one, and the two teams battled until a three-point Hawk run brought up set point at 24-21. The Golden Eagles fought back to tie the score at 24-all, but New Paltz closed out the stanza with a block assist by junior middle hitter Morgan Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and sophomore setter Maddie Zwickl (Chester, N.Y./Warwick Valley) and a service ace by junior defensive specialist Anna Paulik (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh).
 
The fourth set featured several runs by both teams. Brockport cracked open a 13-9 lead on the heels of a 7-1 spurt, but after a New Paltz timeout, junior defensive specialist Rachel Pierson (Middletown, N.Y./Minisink Valley) rattled off three service aces in a 4-0 run to knot the tally at 13-all. That wound up being the last time in the set that the Hawks had a share of the lead, as the Golden Eagles posted a pair of 3-0 runs to find the separation they need to emerge with the match-clinching 25-20 victory.
 
Borquist and junior right side Katy Braddon (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua Academy) keyed the Hawk attack with nine kills apiece, while Zwickl doled out 31 assists. Pierson ended up being a handful for Brockport from the service line with four aces, while Roessler registered four total blocks. Matedero, Borquist and Paulik paced the back row defensively with 21, 15 and 11 digs, respectively.
 
For Brockport, senior outside hitter Kayla Barber and junior outside hitter Sam Holdredge floored 20 and 16 kills, respectively, while sophomore setter Noelle Poloncarz dished out 42 assists. Freshman setter Jamie Schlesinger and senior middle hitter Ashley Capone reinforced a stout front row defensively with five blocks each, while sophomore libero Kathleen Irwin defended 18 digs.