Danbury, CT — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team battled through a tough season opener Wednesday on the road at Western Connecticut State.
 
The Hawks (0-1) opened up with the 1-0 lead, but the Colonials adjusted in the second and upped their serving game that propelled them to the eventual five set victory over SUNY New Paltz, 25-20, 21-25, 17-25, 29-27, 15-5.
 
"In the first set we came out and played all around, which allowed us to establish our offensive weapons," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "Credit to Western Connecticut for raising their serving game in the second, which caused several issues for us in the second and third. We didn't match it and got out of sorts."
 
The first was tight until a 5-1 run allowed SUNY New Paltz to gain an 18-13 advantage with sophomore outside Makenzie Williams capping off the run on a kill from sophomore setter Cate DiGiacomo. The two teams traded points until an attacking error led to a Western Connecticut timeout with the score at 22-17 Hawks. The hosts fought to get within three following the timeout after a kill by Abbi Debes and an attacking error on a long hit by Samantha Cox. Junior middle Victoria Konicki helped her team get to set point, however, registering a kill on a one-handed set from DiGiacomo in the middle. Konicki and Letisha Perez then sealed the 1-0 lead with a block on an attempt by the Colonials' Taylor Rohan. 
 
Western Connecticut went ahead, 12-7 to start the second, but DiGiacomo fed Williams and Perez to help the Hawks get back in and tie the set at 14-all. SUNY New Paltz took the lead at 17-16 on an overturned call at the net, but couldn't sustain the advantage, as the Colonials went back ahead after a kill and an attacking error. Perez and Cox finished back-to-back kills to tie the score, and an attacking error by Western Connecticut gave the Hawks a 17-16 advantage, but the hosts went on to tie the score again at 17, and 18-all. A service ace by Emma Mangold followed by an attempt that went wide by Cox on consecutive points helped the Colonials re-establish the advantage and they never trailed the rest of the set. The Hawks registered errors on four of the last six points, allowing Western Connecticut to earn the 25-21 second-set victory.
SUNY New Paltz out-hit the Colonials in the third, .240 to .156, but the hosts served tough and totaled seven aces in the set, including five-straight by Olivia Monteleone that facilitated a 7-0 run in the middle of the stanza to help Western Connecticut earn a 17-11 advantage. Despite being down 10 points at 13-23, the Hawks continued to battle and earned back four-straight points to cut the score to 17-23. The Colonials finally sealed the third though, getting kills from Rohan and Ali Brochu.
 
The Hawks showed its resiliency in the fourth in an extended set. Down 21-19, SUNY New Paltz earned three-straight points after a kills by Williams and Perez, and a setting error from the Colonials. A kill by Debes and ace from Monteleone pushed Western Connecticut back up by one, but back-to-back errors by the hosts allowed the Hawks to gain a 24-23 lead. The score was knotted again, first at 24, then again at 25, 26 and 27 before an ace by Konicki gave SUNY New Paltz set point. The fourth finally ended on an attacking error by Brochu to knot the game at two sets apiece.
 
The Hawks couldn't carry over their performance to end the fourth into the fifth and struggled throughout the set. They totaled seven attacking errors and four service errors in the final frame, which allowed the Colonials to roll to a 15-5 win to take the match, 3-2.
 
"I'm very proud of how we competed through a really difficult fourth to get back in the match," Giufre said. "There was a lot of adversity after point 20 and we really kept battling well. Unfortunately, we had too many breakdowns in the fifth to recover from."
 
DiGiacomo made her collegiate debut starting at setter and totaled 34 assists, two kills, an ace and eight digs. Perez, a freshman, led both teams with a game-high 14 kills in her first career game, while hitting .522 on 23 attempts with two blocks. Williams, also in her first collegiate debut, followed with 10 kills, nine digs and an ace.
 
Despite the loss, the Hawks gained ample experience in a season-opening match after a year hiatus. The team will have the opportunity to show how well they can overcome a tough early season defeat, as they compete in the Johnson and Wales Tournament this weekend against strong opposition in Union College, Babson College, the hosting Wildcats and Clark University Friday and Saturday, respectively.
 
"Western Connecticut played a better overall match than we did," Giufre said. "Other than the outcome, this was a good opening match for us to experience many stressful points and situations and we will be better in the long run from it. We have four more tough matches this weekend and I'm excited to see how we mature from tonight."
 
SUNY New Paltz will open up the Johnson and Wales Tournament Friday against the Dutchmen at 4:30 p.m.
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