Box Score New Paltz, NY – Back in March, State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball coach
Matt Giufre and his team made the decision to implement a new defense and change its offense from a year ago, knowing the pay-offs would out way the risks when they rolled into the fall for their 2018 season.
Eighteen games in, the new changes made during the offseason has reflected in the box score positively, as the Hawks came away with their seventh-straight sweep and 14th win in 15 games after defeating a tough Hunter College team, 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-15), Thursday night in the Hawk Center.
"We're able to do some things defensively this year with the personal that we have that we weren't able to do in the past, so we were able to match up hitter by hitter," said Giufre following the win. "I think that gives us a great advantage as well. We're not just winging something or making something up on the fly, but it is something that has kind of been in our language all along."
Watching the scouting report on Hunter heading into the match, the hosting Hawks felt as though the visiting Hawks mirrored a lot of their own team, which helped in the week's preparation. SUNY New Paltz made sure to cover Hunter's hitters, while offensively hitting hard on their attack. The strategy benefited all-around, as eight different players registered a kill in the three-set match to help with a balanced offensive night.
"This was definitely a team win," said SUNY New Paltz junior outside hitter
Madison Van Pelt. "We're a really big offense with
Julie Greenspan on the right side
Taylor Cimillo on the right. We have two great middles. We just kind of talk about just using our power swings and really just taking advantage of what they are giving us. Our setter, Meredith [Dignan] is doing a really great job facilitating our hits."
After a 25-21 win to take the first set, the second went back-and-forth with 10 ties in the stanza. At 13-all, SUNY New Paltz went on a 5-0 run to take a 17-14 lead, but Hunter fought back to knot up the score three more times at 19, 20 and 21-all. The hosting Hawks settled back in and scored four unanswered points with kills from Kerri Nevile and
Caleigh Carr before a ball-handling error gave SUNY New Paltz the 25-21 victory.
The third set was controlled by SUNY New Paltz from the start. After a series of attacking errors, back-to-back kills by Neville extended its lead, 8-2.
Shannon Thomas, Van Pelt and Cimillo then added to SUNY New Paltz's lead to help push the advantage, 20-11. Two straight kills by Van Pelt, followed by a service ace by Dignan got the hosting Hawks to match point.
Julie Greenspan then sealed the victory after slamming her attempt into the hands of two Hunter blocks, which sailed the ball out of play for SUNY New Paltz's 25
th point.
"I think I've talked about it before. It goes back to when Shannon was talking about 25 one-point games, and to really focus on what is in front of us," Giufre said. "This team has done a really good job of sticking to that. It has happened point for point in a game [whether] we're up 1-0 or down 0-1, whatever it is they don't let what has happened [affect them]. They learn from it in case we need to change something, but they don't let it emotionally rattle them and that is what a veteran team should do, but it is not what a veteran team always does. This team is just handling games emotionally than a lot of teams I've had."
Van Pelt led the offense in kills on the night, including a vicious attack that erupted the home bench and its fans to extend the lead midway through the second set.
"We have really worked on communication and it has shown in this past match," Van Pelt said.
Nicole Fellone and sophomore Caleigh [Carr], they've really been helping with communicating from the back row to the front row to tell [us] where the hitters and the open spots are. Our defense has really picked up this past season."
The win marks SUNY New Paltz's ninth straight. It hasn't lost a match since Sept. 12 against Stevens Institute of Technology and has dropped just one set in eight games, dating back Sept. 14 in a 3-1 win over Bard College. On the season, the team has lost just 12 sets through its first 18 matches.
"When you are more of a veteran team the expectation is that you can be much more steady in your play, but it doesn't always end up that way," Giufre said. We had a conversation early in the season about where do we individually need to be at to play our best? If I need to be super high and somebody else needs to be super calm that is OK and don't try to make somebody something that they are not. But also understand who you are, don't try to be something just to fit in. Be who you need to be to play at your best, for practice and for games. They again, really took that to heart… so far so good, but calendar hasn't hit October yet. I just told them in the team room that we are not done getting better unless we don't think we need to get better and that is starting when we are at practice tomorrow."
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