Cortland, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team fought through an up-and-down regular season to upset No. 4 seed Fredonia Tuesday to put itself a game away from its second SUNYAC Championship game in the last three seasons, but the No. 5 seeded Hawks couldn't overcome the high-powered top-seeded Red Dragons Friday night, falling in straight sets to conclude their 2021 campaign.
 
"We really wanted to be playing our best volleyball in late October into November and for the most part we achieved that," said SUNY New Paltz coach Matt Giufre. "Tonight we simply could not match Cortland's serving and offense. They're strong and consistent in every position which is why they're having the season they're having."
 
The Hawks opened up the first with a 3-0 advantage, but Cortland took its initial lead following a kill by Nicole Van Pelt and an ace by Olivia Doorley. Mia Waddell had trouble handling Doorley's serve, but made a nice pass to Cate DiGiacomo on the next point, leading to a kill by Lauren Abbott to tie the set at six. SUNY New Paltz re-gained the lead with a Victoria Konicki kill that ended a long rally in favor of the Hawks. Dana Collins helped add onto the run with an ace, while Konicki and Letisha Perez capped off the stretch with a double block on a swing by the Red Dragons' Maya Owens, giving SUNY New Paltz a 9-6 advantage. 
The two teams traded points with Mackenzie Williams slamming down a kill to bring the Hawks to a 13-10 cushion, The Red Dragons started gaining momentum, starting with a couple miscues by SUNY New Paltz, aided with some tough serving by Cortland, resulting in a 10-1 run that broke the set open leading to a 25-16 win for the hosts. The Red Dragons ended the set with three straight kills and took the swing into the second set.
 
Similar to the first, the Hawks were tight midway through the set. They were ahead 8-6 at the start of the second thanks to back-to-back kills by Williams and Abbott, but Cortland responded with five consecutive points to regain the lead that they never relinquished the rest of the set. A block by Abbott and Makenzie Bills cut the deficit to 11-9, but Cortland began rolling and rattled off 10 of the next 11 points. Van Pelt ended the set and gave her team a 2-0 lead on a kill after closing out the second, 25-16.
 
The Red Dragons went up big in the third, owning an 11-3 cushion thanks to a pair of aces by Meadow Wittman, but the Hawks didn't go away easily and slowly chipped away at the deficit. Katie Steele and DiGiacomo secured kills on back-to-back points, while Nicole Cooke served through four-straight points and forced the Red Dragons into a pair of attacking errors to help trim the hole to 13-8. Two consecutive attacking errors by Cortland was followed with back-to-back kills on the outside for Williams to bring the score to 17-13. After SUNY New Paltz served into the net, they quickly sided out on the next point with a kill by Abbott, which was followed by an attacking error by Van Pelt that got the Hawks within three at 18-15.
 
SUNY New Paltz got within three once again at 21-18 after a kill by Bills and an ace by Abbott, but the Red Dragons closed out the match on a 4-0 run, capped by their 12th ace of the match, served in by Doorley to finalize the 25-18 outcome. 
 
"I'm proud of how much our team grew this year and how we kept battling right through the end tonight even when it seemed like the match was over," Giufre said. "To get within three late in the third after being down a lot speaks highly about the character of this team."
 
Williams led all Hawks hitters with seven kills and 9.5 points. DiGiacomo finished with 20 assists, two kills and 11 digs. Melanie Podstupka followed defensively with 10 digs to go along with three assists.
 
SUNY New Paltz ends its 2021 season at 14-14 overall and graduate two seniors from its squad in middle Hannah Miller and defensive specialist Cooke who were the only veterans on an inexperienced group this season.
 
"We bring a strong group back but have a lot to do this offseason to get to Cortland's level," Giufre said. "I cannot appreciate Nicole and Hannah more than I do for being two seniors leading a team of 10 rookies to the semifinal. They're incredible people."

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