Box Score Ithaca, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team hit its stride against Franklin & Marshall College beating the Diplomats in straight sets 25-17, 26-24, 26-24. Head coach Matt Giufre loved the way his team competed and said, "This was the most complete match we've played so far."
 
The Hawks (6-4) were coming off difficult back-to-back losses against Stockton University and Stevens Institute of Technology, but rebounded in a big way with solid all-around play against Franklin & Marshall.
 
Leading 16-15 in the first set, SUNY New Paltz was in a back and forth game, but gained momentum and finished the set on a 9-2 run. The final four points of the set came off of Maddie Van Pelt kills from Maddie Zwickl.
 
After establishing Van Pelt and Taylor Cimillo on the outside it was time for Zwickl to work back through the middle where the Hawks found great success. Working through the middle was a recent strategic shift offensively for SUNY New Paltz and it worked to perfection against the Diplomats. The passing gave Zwickl the ability to set all three options and with Franklin & Marshall focused on stopping the outside attack the tandem of Demi Herasme and Kerri Neville dominated out of the middle.
 
Neville led the team offensively with 13 kills on 22 attempts for an impressive .500 hitting percentage, while Herasme finished with nine kills on 17 attempts for a .417 hitting percentage. Van Pelt and Cimillo also put in solid performances with nine and 10 kills, respectively.
 
Giufre credited the passers with giving the middle hitters the ability to put the ball away and Zwickl for putting the ball on a tee for the attackers. "Our passers did a great job allowing our middles to be major weapons for us and they really played exceptionally well," said Giufre. "Maddie did a really good job distributing the ball and putting all of our hitters in great position to execute their shots."
 
Zwickl finished the match with 36 assists and the team only had five reception errors on the day.
 
The defensive line added to the great team play for the day with four players reaching double-digit digs. Nicole Fellone, Julie Greenspan, Cimillo, and Veronica Matedero finished with 10,11,12, and 16 digs, respectively. The 12 digs for Cimillo marked a double-double for her on the day to go along with her 10 kills.
 
In the second set SUNY New Paltz faced two set points as it trailed 22-24. A kill from Cimillo erased the first set point while Neville erased the second. Zwickl went to Neville again at 24-24 and was successful giving the Hawks their first set point where they converted off an attack error from Christine Yoo.
 
The Hawks found themselves trailing in the third set 16-7, but they fought back with a serving run from Matedero. Matedero ran seven straight points and brought her team back within one point. The set continued to be back and forth until 24-24, where back-to-back kills from Cimillo gave SUNY New Paltz the match.
 
"We knew going into the match Franklin & Marshall was going to be a major challenge," said Giufre. "They play a fast game and especially have two very good outside hitters. I'm very pleased with how we competed for each point and didn't let the score dictate our aggressiveness."
 
The Hawks get back on the court Saturday, playing two matches against the host, Ithaca College, and the 22^nd nationally ranked University of Mary Washington.