Union, NJ — The State University of New York at New Paltz's women's volleyball program showed grit in its two tough matches at Kean University against Hunter College and the hosting Cougars, respectively.

The day started with a 3-2 victory over the opposing Hawks (2-8), but lost a very difficult and hard fought match to Kean (7-9) in four sets to push the young program's record to 8-8 on the season.

"We competed really well for nine sets of volleyball against two tough opponents," said SUNY New Paltz coach Matt Giufre. "This week, we will do the same we do every week in working to be more consistent on offense and make sure our block is in the right place to frustrate opponent hitters."

SUNY New Paltz started with a back and forth first set against Hunter College, only falling behind as far as 9-6 before rapidly increasing the lead to 24-18. A kill by Brittany Wang, a service ace, and a kill allowed Hunter to score three times before the next service error gave the Hawks a 25-21 victory. The second set went back and forth as much as the previous stanza, with eight ties and four different lead changes before consecutive errors by SUNY New Paltz gave the opposing Hawks a 25-22 victory to tie the match 1-1. 

In a set with nine ties and five lead changes, SUNY New Paltz came out in front, 25-20, as it hit three service aces and took advantage of multiple service and attack errors by the opposing Hawks. The fourth set did not start off as friendly, as two different runs mainly on kills and service aces, separated by a New Paltz 4-0 run, got Hunter College off to an 11-4 start. SUNY New Paltz crawled back to make the score, 19-17 on a Hannah Miller kill, but another 3-1 run, followed by a kill and an attack error after freshman Letisha Perez's attempt went long, forced a decisive fifth set.

SUNY New Paltz started off by forcing a 5-5 score early, but another mini-run for Hunter, helped by a few attack errors, pushed the score to 9-6. SUNY New Paltz came alive to end the match, as four kills and five errors by Hunter accounted for nine straight points for SUNY New Paltz to win the match with a 15-9 final set score.

"I thought the team showed a lot of grit doing that," Giufre said on the team's comeback win.

Hunter, which struggled with hitting coming into the day at .100, improved with a .144 hitting percentage — including .269 in the fourth set — in the match, but it could not overcome the .400 to .105 difference in the fifth set.

Junior outside hitter Katie Steele led the Hawks with 20 points, 13 kills, and four aces on 48 total attacks, while adding 11 digs and five blocks in an impressive game. Sophomore setter Dana Collins nearly doubled her assist total for the season with 44 assists, while junior Mia Waddell led the team in digs with 20. The two Hawks teams were fairly even throughout the match, but Hunter's 29 errors compared to SUNY New Paltz's 24 proved to be the difference. 

The Hawks' match against Kean was a game full of decisive runs, as SUNY New Paltz got off to a hot 8-3 lead to start. However, multiple errors on both serves and attacks, as well as perfectly placed kills by the Cougars, quickly pushed the Cougars to a 13-12 lead. Similar to the Hunter College match, the two teams went back and forth for most of the set, before a Morgan Hall kill gave the Cougars a 25-22 first set victory. The Hawks took a 13-8 lead in the second set with a six point run, and had a 17-14 lead at one point before SUNY New Paltz began to slip away. Multiple attacks and kill attempts went way beyond the out of bounds line, as the Cougars ended the set on an 11-1 run to secure the second set, 25-18.

SUNY New Paltz went into the third with the same struggles, with multiple service errors and mishit balls — as well as the presence of the Cougars Kayla Thornton — brought Kean within four points of winning the match. After a timeout by SUNY New Paltz, the Hawks ended the half with a dominant 7-0 run of their own. The battle ended with a block at the front of the net to take the set, 25-21 and kept the match alive.

SUNY New Paltz, after starting off with a 2-0 lead in the fourth set, allowed the Cougars to get five straight points on attack errors. After getting two points back, four different errors and a kill pushed the Cougars score to 10-4. The Cougars took a 19-12 lead before the Hawks, again, battled back late. A five-point run ended on a Perez kill to cut the deficit, 19-17. Kean held match point at 24-19,  but SUNY New Paltz made a valiant effort to force a fifth set with two points. However, Anne Beckemeyer's kill placed in the right spot ended the match with a 25-21 loss for the Hawks.

"Kean is very strong and they have a big block which caused us to miss some swings we normally make," Giufre said. "I thought we battled well, we just couldn't make a couple plays to turn it in our favor in the 4th set. Kean was very fast in the middle too, more than any team we've played, so it was good for us to see that and learn from it."

Sophomore outside hitter Mackenzie Williams led the attack for the Hawks with 10.5 points on 27 attacks. Williams, Perez, Victoria Konicki, and Samantha Cox finished the game with a team-high eight kills. Waddell led the defense with 18 digs, while Collins and Cate DiGiacomo set the offense up well with 19 and 13 assists, respectively.

"I'm confident this team will work hard and focus this week to prepare for two very important matches," Giufre said.

SUNY New Paltz returns to action with SUNYAC play Friday, when it starts a four game road stretch at Buffalo State. The match is slated to begin at 6 p.m.

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