Ending its home schedule Oct. 13 with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-15) clobbering win over Bard College, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team was flying high, sitting at 21-4 overall. Then, the Hawks ended their regular season with an unexpected 3-4 skid, losing first place possession of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), and momentum heading into the postseason.
  However, much like it has all year, SUNY New Paltz bounced back, cruising through the SUNYAC tournament to reach its sixth NCAA Division III tournament appearance in program history. The Hawks will face off against the No. 4 ranked team in the Mid-Atlantic region, Franklin and Marshall College (23-7 overall, 10-0 conference), in the first round Friday to begin the journey towards its first ever NCAA championship.

"The later you play, the harder it gets," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "If we keep playing with confidence and conviction, and give everything on each point, we have the ability to keep winning. I've been impressed with this team all year, and believe there's a lot of great volleyball ahead of us."

SUNY New Paltz's last NCAA tournament appearance was in 2014, when the SUNYAC champions took on Haverford College in the Regional Quarterfinals, losing, 3-0. The Hawks deepest run occurred in 2008, when a 3-2 victory over Fredonia State sent SUNY New Paltz to the National Quarterfinals, where it would eventually lose to the University of La Verne, 3-0.

This will be Franklin and Marshall College's ninth appearance in the NCAA tournament, with its highest-finish coming in 2000, when the Diplomats lost to Juniata College, 3-0, in the Regional Finals. Franklin and Marshall College earned one of 21 at-large bids into the tournament of 64 this season. 

In 2017, SUNY New Paltz took a 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, -26-24) victory over the Diplomats in the Ithaca College Bombers invitational. It was the only meeting between the two teams in their respective program histories.

Franklin and Marshall College comes into the weekend having lost 3-0 (20-25, 20-25, 22-25) to McDaniel College in the Centennial Conference Tournament semifinals Nov. 3, after ending their regular season on a 9-1 tear.

"The teams that play their best in November, deserve to be in the NCAA," said junior outside hitter Madison Van Pelt. "We're playing our best volleyball right now, and we're all on the same page looking at the big picture. This is an amazing group of girls, and we're all just excited to play together and lengthen our season."

The Hawks will begin NCAA tournament action at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Providence, RI, against the Diplomats.

"Our team and coaches have worked extremely hard," said sophomore outside hitter Demi Herasme. "If we continue to work as determined and hard as we have, our team is capable of anything."

 For everything #NPHawks including photos, video, recaps and highlights, be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Facebook and Instagram.