Saratoga Springs, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team bounced back from a loss in the Hawk Center Wednesday night with a quick, 3-0 sweep of Bard College in its opening game of the Skidmore Classic Friday night.
 
"I'm very pleased with tonight's win," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "We played a lot sharper than Wednesday and much more enthusiastic. We got nice contributions from everyone, and we need that going forward into tomorrow and through postseason."
 
SUNY New Paltz (12-12 overall) rolled through all three sets and was able to get its full roster onto the floor to help in the win. Eleven different players registered at least a kill, while four tallied five or more with sophomore outside Mackenzie Williams leading the way with nine on just 15 attempts to hit a productive .400 in the match. She helped the Hawks to one of their best hitting percentages of the season, as they finished to hit .273 as a group including an impressive second set where they totaled 15 kills and hit nearly .400. 
After winning the first, 25-16, SUNY New Paltz got out in front in the second after a 6-0 run broke an eight-point tie. The Hawks never looked back from that point on as Mia Waddell helped pile on with two straight aces to push the score to 17-9. The Raptors cut the deficit to seven following a kill by Precious Star, but SUNY New Paltz countered with three straight points to end the set, 25-15 with Makenzie Bills registering an ace and Letisha Perez following up with a kill at set point.
 
SUNY New Paltz made quick work of the third, as it built on a six-point run following an early 3-3 tie. Sophomore middle hitter Nicole Kleinegger came in and served through the run forcing Bard into four attacking errors and a ball handling error to help her team establish an 8-3 advantage. A service error by the Raptors finally got the Hawks to match point and Lauren Abbott closed out with a kill to end the set, 25-11, and the match in straight sets.
 
Sophomore setters Cate DiGiacomo and Dana Collins were the facilitators, as the two combined for 24 assists, while DiGiacomo added an ace, one kill and three digs to her stat like with Collins adding an ace, one kill and one dig. Junior middle Victoria Konicki led the team with five blocks and five kills, scoring 8.5 points behind Williams' 10.5 points. Bills and Perez also finished with five kills apiece.
 
SUNY New Paltz ends regular season action Saturday when it takes on Union College and the hosting Thoroughbreds at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
 
"Tomorrow gives us an opportunity to continue to build consistency in performance, effort, communication and enthusiasm," Giufre said.." I still believe we're on the cusp of a great run of volleyball if we fully go all in to making it happen."

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