New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team, with a full squad on display Friday and Saturday for their home Hawks Invitational, ended the second day of the tournament in convincing fashion. The Hawks won all three games on the weekend, including two four-set victories over Alfred University and Russell Sage College Saturday.
 
"Not just today, but yesterday too [was really important] because after last week we were kind of down," said SUNY New Paltz freshman middle hitter Letisha Perez who was a big factor in both wins for her team adding to her already impressive first season. "We were missing some of our teammates, so we really needed it with everyone together. Winning these past two days, it was good and I'm really proud of the team.
 
After dropping its first five games to start the season, the Hawks had all of its starters back for the Hawks Invitational Friday and Saturday. They opened up the tournament with a win Friday night over Mt. Saint Mary's College and they looked much improved, but Saturday they seemed even sharper once they started clicking and after a rough first set to start the day against the Saxons, SUNY New Paltz flexed its superiority over Alfred and Sage.
 
"I thought we played really well today," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "The first set against Alfred, they really took it to us. They're a very good defensively and forced us to make uncomfortable shots and made a lot of mistakes."
 
 
SUNY New Paltz started slow against the Saxons, dropping the first set by 10 points, but they battled back in the second. Perez helped turn the momentum after Alfred got within two following a service error. Tenacious at the net, Perez continued to get tips to keep the ball on the Saxons side and finally put a way a kill to push her team ahead, 9-6. Mackenzie Williams followed with a big swing and a point later, sophomore setter Cate DiGiacomo went back to Williams with the fellow sophomore outside ripping off back-to-back kills to fatten SUNY New Paltz's cushion to five.
 
The Hawks then went on a four-point run, getting good serving from DiGiacomo during the stretch. The Saxons were forced into two hitting errors, while DiGiacomo went inside to her middle Victoria Konicki to help balloon the lead to 16-8. The Hawks' largest advantage stretched to 11 in the set and eventually they tied the game following back-to-back kills by Williams to win, 25-14.
 
Giufre needed two timeouts to regroup his team in the third, frustrated on three consecutive errors, which gave Alfred a 20-15 lead.
 
"I thought we regrouped really well the rest of the match and did a great job repeating quality plays," Giufre said. "This is a very young team that needs time together and every day they get better and better. When Alfred had that lead in set three I felt like we were playing frustrated rather than battling in the moment. To come through that late in the set showed a lot of guts and maturity." 
The team eventually responded with an ensuing 4-0 run, again getting good serves in by DiGiacomo. Williams started the rally with a hard swing on a kill at 20-16, then DiGiacomo went to Konicki in the middle who registered a kill before recording an ace followed by a huge block by Makenzie Bills and Konicki that cut the deficit to one at 20-19.
 
Alfred kept its lead to 22-20, but another 4-0 run put the Hawks at set point. Mia Waddell served in with DiGiacomo finding Perez for a kill. Perez and Bills again got up for a block before Perez came through with a kill to put her team a point away from the set-three win. The Saxons got back a point, but DiGiacomo went to her right side in Bills who put away the set with a kill.
 
SUNY New Paltz held a 21-16 advantage in the fourth and nearly allowed Alfred to stretch out another set after the visitors went on a 6-2 run to cut the difference to three at 22-19. An attacking error gave the Hawks some breathing room and then the hosts made sure to close out, locking in to register back-to-back kills by Konicki and Steele.
 
Williams led the team with 14 kills, while adding 11 digs. Bills and Konicki followed with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Bills and Perez each totaled a team-leading three blocks, while DiGiacomo finished with a career-high 40 assists and 12 digs in the four-set win.
 
"We've been good defensively this year and I thought we did a much better job turning digs into swings on offense," Giufre said. "We worked a lot on transition play this week to get bigger kill opportunities off of our strong defense and the team made some big positive strides with this. Offensively it's the best we've looked, but we still need to clean up our side-out offense."
 
About seven hours later, the Hawks were back in the gym to face the Gators to close out the Hawks Invitational. They made quick work of Sage and jumped out to a 20-9 lead and eventually took the first set, 25-11 with Perez registering a kill from DiGiacomo on set point.
 
The second mirrored the first and SUNY New Paltz jumped out to a 15-9 advantage and then a 21-11 lead, as the hosts registered six kills and an ace in a 6-2 run. The Hawks then closed out the second with back-to-back kills by Bills and a serving error to win, 25-13.
 
SUNY New Paltz had its reserves play most of the third and nearly came away with the sweep as it held match point at 24-23 after a big block by Nicole Kleinegger tied the game at 22, followed by kills from Ceci Brooks and Hannah Miller, but three consecutive points ended the third set with a Sage victory.
 
With the starting rotation back in, the Gators didn't have an answer. Williams held serve for three points early and recorded two aces, which were sandwiched between a kill by Bills to give the Hawks an early 6-2 lead. Perez came up with a nifty play, knocking a left-handed hit eight points later to push her team ahead, 11-5 and SUNY New Paltz rode momentum from there, scoring on nine of the next 12 points to secure a 20-9 cushion. The Gators fought back to get to 15-22 and then at match point for the Hawks, they scored six-straight to cut the deficit down to 21-24. However, following a timeout by Giufre, DiGiacomo set Williams to close out the game. The Windsor, NY-native hit was too hard for the Gators as she helped capture the 25-21 fourth set victory and the 3-1 win.
 
"Personally, I needed to win," said Perez. "Even though you're pushing yourself and you're great, if you don't win you still don't think you're good enough, but this weekend was great and I feel like we needed that and now we have the confidence to kill it on Tuesday."
 
Perez finished an impressive day with nine kills against the Gators in which she hit .667, while adding one dig and a block. Steele followed with nine kills, followed by Konicki (7), Bills (6) and Brooks (6). Bills and Konicki led the team with three blocks apiece with Bills also adding five digs. Waddell had a team-high 21 digs, while DiGiacomo had a team-high 26 assists to go along with two kills and nine digs.
 
"Letisha is a big moment player," Giufre said. "She stays aggressive and has an unwavering belief. We rely on her a lot, and she comes through as though she's a veteran player rather than a freshman."
 
The Hawks gained confidence and showed immense improvement during their three wins and hope they can continue that trajectory in a short week where they begin SUNYAC play on the road at SUNY Oneonta Tuesday.
 
"I'm really pleased with how we played this weekend," Giufre added. "The team put the specifics of a week of practice into competition and came together nicely. If we continue to practice hard with focus, I'm excited about how much more we can grow."
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to face the Red Dragons in Oneonta Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Letisha Perez Post-Game Interview


Hawks vs. Alfred Game Highlights 


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