The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team is entering its first weekend of State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) pool play Friday and Saturday facing off against Buffalo State, SUNY Brockport and SUNY Cortland.

With an 11-3 record and their best start since 2014, the Hawks come into pool play with the best non-conference record among SUNYAC teams.

"It's always more exciting to go into conference play when you've had prior success," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "What we've done so far has been great and meaningful, but it doesn't change our conference record to anything other than 0-0. We've all learned about ourselves, now it's about going out there and putting our best foot forward."

SUNY New Paltz has been on a hot-steak of late, sweeping its last non-conference tournament at Ramapo College by beating Penn State Harrisburg 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-13), Bard College 3-1 (25-15, 25-17, 23-25, 25-13), Mount Aloysius College 3-0 (25-18, 28-26, 25-14) and Ramapo College 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-21). The Hawks also defeated Western Connecticut State Sept. 18, 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-23).

Finishing fourth in the SUNYAC last year, SUNY New Paltz had some success against Buffalo State and Cortland in 2017, beating the Bengals 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-11) and the Red Dragons 3-2 (25-20, 14-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-11), respectively.

The Hawks have struggled with The College at Brockport in the past, losing last year 3-0 in both the regular season and in the SUNYAC semifinals. SUNY New Paltz has not beaten the Golden Eagles since 2014.

In 2018, The Hawks have opened up conference play leading the SUNYAC in kills, assists, digs and points per set.  

"This year's team has been really good at separating day-to-day, and even game-to-game and point-to-point," Giufre said. "We've played a pretty challenging schedule. This team is going in confident having been battle tested."

SUNY New Paltz will face-off against Buffalo State Friday at 7 p.m., while playing SUNY Brockport at 2:30 p.m. and SUNY Cortland at 5 p.m. Saturday.

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