After completing the regular season with a 15-13 overall record and a 5-4 record in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), the State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball clinched the fifth seed in the conference tournament and will travel to Oneonta, NY on Nov. 5 to battle Catskill Cup rival, SUNY Oneonta, in the quarterfinal round. 
 
SUNY New Paltz is coming out of the weekend with two wins and a loss in the Skidmore Invitational after defeating Union College (3-0) and Morrisville State College (3-2) prior to bowing down to the hosts, Skidmore College (3-2). 
The regular season concluded with senior Nicole Fellone pacing the Hawks with 55 service aces and 456 digs, while collecting 91 assists. Senior Maddie Van Pelt sits on top with 323 kills, 3.26 kills per set, 359 points, and 3.63 points per set. Furthermore, Van Pelt has jotted down 278 digs and 37 blocks. Junior Haley Timarky tallied 812 assists, 274 digs, and 27 service aces. Senior Kerri Neville has contributed 72 blocks and posting 37 service aces. 
 
SUNY New Paltz fell to the Red Dragons, 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 18-25, 20-25), back on Sept. 17 in Dewar Arena. Although the Hawks completed the game with a few more service aces, blocks, one more dig and committed one less error (23) than SUNY Oneonta (24), that was not enough as the Red Dragons compiled more kills (52) and a better hitting percentage (.181). SUNY New Paltz will look to put that setback behind them and use it to strengthen its weaknesses heading into Tuesday night. 
 
"Oneonta is a difficult challenge," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "Their two middles are really high level scorers and we need to be able to find a way to slow them down even just a little bit and not let them have too many easy points. But even with a focus on them we can't ignore their pin hitters or they will do damage against us. We have to do everything possible to serve well and be an offensive team, which is where we fell apart the first time we played them. I think we have a solid game plan, but we need to execute the basics for it to have any impact."
 
SUNY Oneonta finished its regular season schedule with a 22-8 overall record and 6-3 in the conference. The Red Dragons hosted its annual Dig Pink Invitational (Nov. 1-2) and played host to Elmira College (won 3-0), Eastern University (lost 3-1), and Cazenovia College (won 3-0). 
 
Season leaders for SUNY Oneonta sees Clara Culeton leading in kills (306) and blocks (93), while adding 31 service aces on the year. Jessica Fowler has totaled 65 service aces and 1,099 assists to claim those two categories, while accumulating 28 blocks and 195 digs. Additionally, Lindsay Pelaccio contributed 479 digs thus far. 
 
SUNY New Paltz walks in with a .171 hitting percentage. On the other hand, the Red Dragons has totaled a .226 hitting percentage.
 
First serve is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start in Dewar Arena. The winner of this quarterfinal game will go head-to-head with the No. 1 seed SUNY Geneseo in Schrader Gymnasium on Nov. 8. The game is expected to begin at 7 p.m. 

To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.