New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team finished regular season conference play Saturday with arguably its most impressive performance over a talented The College at Brockport team, earning a 3-1 win in the Hawk Center.
The Hawks (11-11 overall, 6-3 SUNYAC) bounced back from a disappointing outing Friday against SUNY Geneseo where they dropped the last three sets to lose in four, but Saturday, after tweaking the starting rotation prior to the match, SUNY New Paltz bounced back and looked more fluid offensively to overcome the Golden Eagles (15-7, 6-3).
"Last night was definitely disappointing especially coming out strong and winning, and not being able to sustain it. I don't have a magical answer for why it was different today. I think we just had a conversation after the match last night about when are we going to flip the switch and maintain a level of play that we believe we're capable of," said SUNY New Paltz coach
Matt Giufre. "We made a couple of adjustments to the lineup today to be a little bit more offensive, which I think helped, but our defense has been fantastic all year and it was last night, and it was again today. I just think offensively we were more confident and more comfortable and were able to put some pressure on Brockport and score points."
Inserted into the lineup was freshman
Lauren Abbott and senior
Hannah Miller with normal starting middle
Letisha Perez moving to outside hitter. The combination worked for the Hawks. They finished with their third best hitting performance against SUNYAC competition all season. They totaled 44 kills and hit .160 as a team with
Victoria Konicki and Perez following
Mackenzie Williams' game-leading 18 kills with nine apiece.
"Today we came into the game, just really excited to play," Williams said. "Everybody stepped up and did their part… before the game, we all kind of went over that we needed to connect more on offense, and I think everyone that came in really did their part. We all had really good energy and I think that all really helped us today."
The first set was tight, seeing the score tied 12 times throughout the stanza. SUNY New Paltz looked like it was going to cruise to the win when a 4-0 run, instigated with some good serving from Abbott, gave the Hawks an 18-14 lead. The Golden Eagles clawed back to get within one at 21-20 following an attacking error and ultimately tied, then took the lead after four-straight points got the set to 24-23, Brockport. A Williams kill knotted the score again at 24 and SUNY New Paltz got to set point on an attacking error on the next point by the Golden Eagles' Meaghan Mastro, but a questionable call on a touch following a swing by Mastro created another stalemate at 25.
Gallery: (10-23-2021) Wome's Volleyball vs. Brockport 10/23/21
Perez hit long to give the Golden Eagles set point, but Mastro returned the favor with an attacking error, making the score 26-all. With Abbott holding serve on the final two points, the Hawks scored the last two to gain the 1-0 lead. Miller helped her team to set point with a kill and Perez and Konicki put the finishing touches on the first set win with a big block to give SUNY New Paltz the 28-26 victory. Abbott was also key on the play, as she came up with a dig on a hard swing by Brockport to keep the point alive that ultimately ended in favor of the Hawks.
"I thought Lauren and Hannah did a fantastic job," Giufre said. "That's a match that neither one of them knew until this morning that they were starting. It's a really good team, a team that's above us in conference and they just went out there and competed. They've been practicing hard all year. They've been successful in practice all year, but they also played within what they were capable of and didn't try to do more than where they were at… they just did what they were good at and did it well and did it repeatedly."
Cate DiGiacomo propelled SUNY New Paltz to an early 7-1 lead to start the second, serving three aces and forcing the Golden Eagles into two hitting errors in a six-point run. Brockport finally sided out after a kill by Megan Loomis and rode that momentum to five-straight points of their own to get within one of the lead. The Hawks never lost composure however, as Williams responded with a kill then backed the point up with an ace on the next sequence to regain her team's cushion. The Hawks never trailed in the set and eventually took the 2-0 lead after back-to-back kills from Perez and Konicki ended the period, 25-17.
Brockport extended the game to four sets after winning the third, 25-16. The Golden Eagles never trailed in the frame and held set point at 24-15. Konicki earned one last point for SUNY New Paltz on a kill, but a service error ended the set in favor of Brockport.
"I thought a key moment was in the second set, we're up 7-1 and then down, 7-6. To be able to just not get flustered and keep poise and confidence against a strong team to fight back, get a little bit of a lead and finish that set — and then another key moment was losing that third set," Giufre said. "Did we already play our best volleyball of the day and it's going downhill? Or was that a natural part of two good teams playing each other and it wasn't going to be a 3-0 sweep? I thought when we came out in the fourth set just the mentality, we came out with I knew we were going to be OK. I didn't know if we were going to win before the fourth set was played, but I knew we were going to be OK because dropping the third set didn't bother us."
Like in the second, DiGiacomo instigated an early lead for her team as she served through five straight points to help gain a 9-2 advantage for the Hawks. Mastro put down two-straight kills to get the difference to four, but following a Brockport service error that allowed SUNY New Paltz to side out, Perez and Konicki got up again for another big block on Mastro to push the score to 14-7 Hawks.
The two teams exchanged points, but none bigger than at 16-9 when Perez ignited the SUNY New Paltz bench and crowd after winning a joust at the net.
A 5-0 run by the Golden Eagles kept the game tight and SUNY New Paltz saw its lead dwindle to 17-16, but again the Hawks stayed composed and came up with three consecutive points to maintain their cushion. An ace by
Melanie Podstupka gave the hosts match point and Perez ended the game three points later, capping off the game with a swing down the line for a kill to give her team the 25-20 set win and 3-1 match victory.
"I think this game meant a lot to us, boosting our confidence and really just connecting on offense and proving to ourselves that we can play at a really high level… I think it just helped our mental game a lot," Williams said.
"Last night we kept doing things that weren't working. Today we repeated things that were working and when something didn't work, we just didn't do it again. We didn't repeat it," Giufre added. "We were more aware of the game and that was the biggest thing. We were more aware of the game tonight."
Miller and Abbott were vital in the win. The two combined for eight kills, three aces, two blocks and 12 digs with Miller hitting a solid .267 on 15 attempts in the match.
"Lauren was out there for her offensive capability and that was the best blocking I've seen her do all season, practice or games, against one of the best middles in the SUNYAC for the last several years in Meaghan Mastro… Her serve was fantastic, and I think that put a lot of pressure on Brockport, and she was able to consistently locate it. She's another kid — she's just a really good volleyball player," Giufre said. "She did make some digs today that I haven't really seen a ton of, because there was some rips coming at her, but it was just one of those things you practice hard all year, you focus, you give your best effort so you're ready when you're called upon.
"And Hannah goes out and uplifts our core," he continued. "She makes everyone around her better. She makes the team play better and then she goes out and hits shots that opponents don't see, and she scores. It's a little bit unconventional but she scores. She sees the game well and she's not going to get beat on effort."
After coming off Friday's 19-kill performance, Williams added 18 more Saturday and hit .176 on 51 attempts. She was all over the floor as well, adding three assists, three aces and six digs to a productive night.
"We've changed our set to her a little bit, [but] she's really come into her own," Giufre said. "When we recruited her, I knew she was going to be a top player in this conference… now with consistent opportunities and more reps under her belt, more reps with Cate, she's just a dynamic player. You think you know what to do against her and she's going something else up her sleeve. She sees the game well, she hits the ball hard and her passing and defense and back row play has really come along. Her serve is really good. She's just a really high-level player."
Regardless of the result against the Golden Eagles, odds were pointing to the Hawks earning the fifth seed in the SUNYAC Tournament with a trip to No. 4 Fredonia in the quarterfinal round of the SUNYAC Tournament. However, with playoffs looming and four regular season matches left on the schedule the win over a quality Brockport team leaves the Hawks confident moving forward.
"That's the biggest thing. There's been no easy match during this conference season at all, but to beat a team that is higher than us in the standings was really important," Giufre said. "That was the one thing we haven't done in the regular season. I think Brockport is absolutely good enough to win the conference, so coming out and beating them should also show that we're also capable if we sustain a high-level of play and have a little confidence, and a little bit belief in what we've been talking about and it actually can happen. And, we'll see because we're going to have a heck of a match against Fredonia. Going out there, playing them on their home court again is not easy. They handled us the first time around, so we have to bring something with us to keep it going."
SUNY New Paltz has one last home game left, which is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. against Vassar.
************************
To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on
Twitter at
@nphawks,
Instagram and
Facebook at
@newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our
Youtube channel,
New Paltz Hawks.
