The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team is back on the road in conference play Friday and Saturday, taking on Oswego State and SUNY Cortland.
 
The Hawks (7-7 overall, 2-1 SUNYAC) are coming off its first undefeated road weekend of the year, compiling two 3-1 victories over State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) rivals Buffalo State and Fredonia. They hope to pile onto their winning streak over the weekend, playing another pair of tough conference opponents in the Lakers and Red Dragons. 
 
"With Cortland and Oswego this weekend, our team has been getting mentally prepared," said SUNY New Paltz junior middle hitter Demi Herasme. "That's been our first focus and physically, obviously our practices have been 10 times tougher, more rallies -- a lot. I just think we're just getting mentally prepared first and then working on our skills."
 
Oswego State (12-5, 0-1) is on a three-game winning streak, beating non-conference opponents York College, Misericordia University and Cazenovia College on Sept. 21 and Sept. 24, respectively. However, the Lakers lost their lone SUNYAC game of the season Sept. 17 against SUNY Cortland, 3-0.
 
Junior right side Melissa Lussier leads Oswego State offensively with 122 kills, averaging 2.39 per set. Senior middle blocker Lauren Fie is second on the team in kills with 114, totaling just more than two per set. Senior setter Julia Flohr has totaled 371 assists thus far to go along with 145 digs, while junior libero Emily Costa paces the team defensively with 197 digs through 53 sets played.
 
SUNY Cortland (17-6, 1-0) is heading into its first contests since coming back from Washington, D.C. where it went 2-2 on the weekend, including a loss against York in its latest matchup, 3-1. Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Southcott leads the team with 237 kills, averaging 3.31 kills per set. Senior setter Gabby Amelio is the catalyst offensively, registering 332 assists through 82 sets played, while freshman libero Carly Haegele leads the Red Dragons defensively with 372 digs, averaging nearly five digs per set.
  "They're both tough and they're both different," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre about the weekend's opposition. "Oswego is very steady. They are good defensively. They've got a lot of different style hitters that could beat you in different ways. Cortland defensively this year is a lot better than they have been. They've got some high-flying hitters that come with a lot of power at you so they are both different in their own way. They're both good. We got to be up for the challenge." 
 
For SUNY New Paltz, its 2019 campaign has been turbulent. After overcoming three losses in their opening weekend with four-straight wins at home, the Hawks lost three more on the road at the Ducks Classic and also dropped its first SUNYAC match to rival SUNY Oneonta, 3-1.
 
The defending conference champions showed some resiliency over the weekend, however, and came away with two solid wins against the Bengals and Blue Devils, the latter made it to the conference semifinals a year ago. The Hawks hope to build off those performances with a pair of wins over quality programs.
 
"Some weaknesses that need to be worked on heading into this weekend are being consistent throughout the whole game, focus on our mentality, and being very strong," said SUNY New Paltz junior libero Olivia D'Antonio.
 
The Hawks had their most productive offensive game against Buffalo State, hitting a season-high .301 as a team, led by senior outside hitter Maddie Van Pelt with 14 kills. Freshman Katie Steele put up a career-high 11 kills to aid in the win, while Herasme followed with eight kills and a team-best .615 hitting percentage.
 
"We played a lot cleaner game on offense," said Giufre of the performance. "Just didn't make as many errors we've been making. Haley [Timarky] set the ball really well and our hitters controlled their swings and took advantage when we could to try to score, but also limited how many points we were giving up to Buffalo State. I thought that was huge offensive production for us, and that is something that we need to continue to build on because volleyball is about scoring points as efficiently as possible. If we can keep hitting around or at that level, we should find a lot more success ahead of us."
 
SUNY New Paltz has never lost to the Lakers in 11 games played and has dropped just five sets total in those matches. The Red Dragons hold the advantage in the head-to-head, 19-15, but the Hawks have won the last eight contests, hoping to make it nine Saturday.
 
"With the second half of the season approaching, some expectations for us are obviously just to continue doing well in the SUNYAC play," Herasme said "… We are defending SUNYAC champions so we obviously have high standards for ourselves." 
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to face Oswego State Friday at 6 p.m. and SUNY Cortland Saturday at 1 p.m.

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