Buffalo, NY — On the brink of its first conference loss of the year, looking up at a 2-0 deficit Friday on the road at Buffalo State, the State University of New York at New Paltz stormed back to earn a resilient five-set victory over the hosting Bengals, 23-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-7.
 
"I'm really proud of the character we showed tonight," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. It wasn't the first time we've had our backs against the wall, but it's the first time we truly fought back and kept competing. This was a huge growth moment for our team."
 
The young Hawks (9-8 overall, 4-0 SUNYAC), in real time, showed its maturity in what would have been a disappointing loss against the Bengals (7-9, 2-4). Instead, they dug deep and stayed undefeated in SUNYAC play while bumping their record to above .500 on the season.
 
In the first, SUNY New Paltz saw an early six-point deficit but worked its way back to tie the frame at 18 following some good serving by Mackenzie Williams and Dana Collins. Three-straight attacking errors, thanks to good work at the net by middles Letisha Perez and Hannah Miller, helped knot the score but SUNY New Paltz couldn't extend its run further with the Bengals re-gaining the advantage after a kill allowed the hosts to side out.
 
The Hawks finally took their first lead of the game at 22-21 with Buffalo State's attempt going long. The Bengals answered with three consecutive points to get to set point leading to a Giufre timeout. Williams finished a long rally on the following point off an assist by Collins, but a misfire by Perez gave Buffalo State a 1-0 lead. 
SUNY New Paltz came out to a 5-1 advantage in the second, but the Bengals quickly erased the early deficit and got back out in front at 8-7 following a kill by Alena McKelvey. Williams helped tie the set at 12 with a kill, but Buffalo State proceeded on a 4-1 run to gain a 16-13 advantage that resulted in another timeout by Giufre. The Hawks never gained their footing again in the second and eventually, the Bengals took a 2-0 lead after an attempt by Bills went long to end the second, 25-18 in favor of Buffalo State.
 
On the brink of a sweep, SUNY New Paltz began its rally in the third and got up 9-5 following a block by Perez and Cate DiGiacomo. The Bengals showed some resiliency of their own and tied the fourth at 10, resulting in a Giufre timeout, but the Hawks answered with a 6-2 spurt that helped curate a slight four-point cushion. SUNY New Paltz forced the Bengals into a timeout following a kill by Williams that brought the lead to 21-17, but the timeout aided in four unanswered points by Buffalo State to knot the set at 21 apiece. In what could have been the turning point in the match, SUNY New Paltz put an end to the rally and scored the next two points off back-to-back kills by Williams, assisted by DiGiacomo. The Bengals trimmed the deficit to a point, but Victoria Konicki ended the third off a great set by DiGiacomo, as Konicki found the gap in the middle of the floor to solidify the 25-22 outcome.
 
"Credit to Buff State for coming out on fire and making things really uncomfortable for us," Giufre said. "We had a couple defensive breakdowns, but more so couldn't get anything going on offense. They really blocked and defended well. Once we were able to pick up a few blocks, it felt like we got a little momentum and fortunately we started to connect a lot better on offense."
 
The fourth went back-and-forth with Buffalo State taking its largest lead at 12-10. Following a SUNY New Paltz timeout, Williams responded for her team, getting a strong swing to hit just inside the line for a kill and DiGiacomo followed with an ace to tie the set. The Hawks didn't take their first lead until 16-15, however, as Samantha Cox, who played big off the bench, and Perez got up for a double block to give their team a one-point advantage.

Buffalo State tied the set at 17 and then 22-all, but never got out in front again in the stanza. The Bengals hit into the net to put SUNY New Paltz at set point and the fourth ended on a long rally that was capped by a Buffalo State attempt that landed too long, which closed out the fourth for the Hawks, 25-22 an forcing a deciding fifth set.
 
The final frame began evenly matched with the set tied at five. SUNY New Paltz scored three unanswered points off a service error by the Bengals and back-to-back kills by Perez and Cox to gain control of the fifth. Perez tallied another kill on a tipped ball that found the middle of the court to bring her team's lead to 10-6. The Bengals called an ensuing timeout, but the break didn't stop the Hawks from piling a few more points onto their cushion.
 
Buffalo State earned a kill to cut the score 12-7, but SUNY New Paltz quickly sided out and finished the game with three straight points. Perez made another savvy play, reading the blockers and placing her attempt just inside the near sideline for the kill. She and DiGiacomo then got up for a double block on the right side to bring their team to match point, and the game was sealed on a huge swing by Williams with the Bengals unable to handle for the game-finalizing kill.
 
The Hawks hit .126 as a team and totaled 52 kills in the match, but in the fifth was the most efficient offensively it has been all season, totaling 10 kills of their 15 points while hitting .320 to close out the win.
 
"Mack [Williams] and Letisha were huge for us scoring points, but I also though Sam came in and found some openings and helped pick up kills that really turned the momentum around," Giufre said. "Then you saw our defense, which has been good all year turn it up another level and that helped our offense immensely since we got better quality swings."
 
Williams led all players with 15 kills, hitting .178 in the match, while also adding a team-leading 20 digs and 16 points on the day. Perez followed with 14 kills on 27 attempts to hit a healthy .407, while adding two digs and a career-high nine blocks. Bills added eight kills and four blocks, while Cox finished with seven kills on 25 attempts with three digs and three blocks on the night. DiGiacomo led her team with 37 assists, three aces, 15 digs and four blocks.
 
"But really," Giufre continued. "This one comes from a great week of practice where all 17 players really pushed each other and competed with each other to bring out the best in each other. Great win, but we need to figure out tonight how to come out to a better start tomorrow against a tough Fredonia team."
 
SUNY New Paltz is back on the floor Saturday when it takes on Fredonia State. First serve is scheduled for noon.

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