Fredonia, NY — After battling back from two sets down Friday night, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team couldn't duplicate the same magic Saturday on the road at Fredonia State and fell to the hosting Blue Devils in straight sets, 18-25, 15-25, 24-26.
 
The offense struggled throughout the match, but with the Hawks missing on three of four serves early to set the tone, they never got into rhythm on the floor. As a team, SUNY New Paltz hit just .009 in the match and totaled 26 kills. Fredonia held the advantage in points (50-32), kills (30-26), aces (7-1), blocks (13-5), assists (27-24) and digs (49-46) in the sweep.
 
The Hawks never led in the first, but stayed close early. Back to back kills by Mackenzie Williams and Samantha Cox cut the deficit, 13-12, with the two teams exchanging points following another kill by Cox then a ball handling error by Cox, but a 5-1 run allowed Fredonia to take control of the set. SUNY New Paltz got as close as three following a kill by Victoria Konicki and a ball handling error by the Blue Devils, but the hosts secured the 1-0 lead following three consecutive points to finish the set, 25-18.
 
SUNY New Paltz really struggled in the second, only totaling four kills with seven hitting errors on 29 attempts to hit in the negative in the set. Fredonia ultimately rolled to a 10-point win again finishing with three-straight points to end the set, 25-15. 
The Hawks battled back in the following stanza, hoping to avoid a sweep. SUNY New Paltz tied the third at 11 following a kill by Williams and took its first lead after another kill by Williams and an attacking error by the Blue Devils. After Fredonia tied the score at 13 and 14, the Hawks took a 16-14 lead with Cate DiGiacomo going back to Williams for a kill to side out with Williams then serving well leading to another attacking error by the Blue Devils. The cushion was extended to 19-15 on a 3-0 run by SUNY New Paltz with the Hawks and Fredonia trading points to push the score to 20-16. A bad set helped trim the deficit , but kills by Katie Steele and Williams got the Hawks just three points away from the win. DiGiacomo set Williams once again and the sophomore smashed another kill, putting her team at 24-21 and just a point away from stealing the set.
 
However, the Blue Devils stalled SUNY New Paltz there and scored five-straight points, first on a kill, then an ace, followed by a block and an attacking error to get to match point with the game sealed on a kill by Christie Ackendorf to hand the Hawks their first SUNYAC loss of the year.
 
Williams led her team with 12 kills and five digs. Cox followed with five kills, while DiGiacomo ended with 21 assists, one ace, a block and nine digs.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action next weekend when it travels to face SUNY Cortland Oct. 15 and Oswego State Oct. 16.

*********************
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.