Oneonta, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team was riding a three-game winning streak going into Tuesday's opening conference match against rival SUNY Oneonta.
 
The Hawks (4-5 overall, 1-0 SUNYAC) had swept the weekend with non-conference victories at home against Alfred, Sage and Mt. Saint Mary's College, but went on the road Tuesday against the Red Dragons and put up  maybe their most impressive victory thus far this season, sweeping Oneonta (1-6, 0-1), 3-0 to claim their fourth-straight win and first SUNYAC victory of the season.
 
"I told the team after the match this was a mature win," said SUNY New Paltz coach Matt Giufre. "We weren't connecting as well on offense as we did last weekend and we had to win in other ways. Our serving, blocking and defense certainly carried us tonight."
 
Ironically, the Red Dragons were the last team the Hawks saw before its 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19, as Oneonta defeated SUNY New Paltz in the quarterfinals of the 2019 conference tournament. Seeing the Red Dragons in its first SUNYAC game of the season, the Hawks got some redemption with a gutsy performance that was highlighted by a come-back first-set victory with the hosts holding set point at 24-20.
 
SUNY New Paltz initially held a 20-18 lead, but Oneonta came storming back with a six-point run to get to set point. SUNY New Paltz showed its maturity to play out the next six points and snatch the opening set away from the hosting Red Dragons. 
Mackenzie Williams ended the streak with a free ball that landed over to the far side of the court with Oneonta not there to cover. The Hawks got within another point after a long hit by Oneonta allowed them to hold serve once again, with Dana Collins coming in and giving the visitors quality serves, which aided in the unanswered stretch. A strong swing from Victoria Konicki in the middle handed SUNY New Paltz life and was followed by Melanie Podstupka setting Williams on the next point as the sophomore took a big swing, beating the Red Dragons block on the outside to tie the game at 24. Collins served once again for the Hawks and after a little bit of a rally, Cate DiGiacomo went back to Konicki in the middle who smashed her fourth kill into the ground to get her team to set point. Oneonta then ended the set after an errant attempt to allow the Hawks to take a 1-0 lead.
 
"Things looked bad in that first set then Dana came in and had a huge run of quality serves and dug a few key swings to get us out of that rut," Giufre said. "That was a big turn in our favor."
 
SUNY New Paltz held a 21-16 advantage in the second with Oneonta cutting down the cushion, 21-18 and again at 22-19. Letisha Perez got up and managed to get her fingers on a free ball that landed back on the Red Dragons' side to push the Hawks up, 23-19. Podstupka followed up with an ace and Katie Steele finished the second by striking her swing past the block on the outside to cement the 25-19 second-set victory.
 
Oneonta took an early timeout in the third after SUNY New Paltz tied the set at six, but after the break Perez answered with another block, which became a prelude to the Hawks' dominance at the net, as they followed up with two more blocks to get ahead, 9-6, with Perez and Steele each registering a solo block apiece.
 
SUNY New Paltz gave up the lead at 16-15 but responded with a kill by Bills and traded points until a kill by Williams ignited an eventual four-point spurt at 20-21. Back-to-back blocks by Bills, Konicki and Konicki once again swung the advantage to the Hawks side, holding a 22-21 lead, and forced Oneonta into a timeout.
 
Konicki continued a career night as she finished on a set by DiGiacomo in the middle to push her team ahead, 23-21. An attacking error gave the Hawks match point and two points later, Konicki fittingly finished the game with another hard swing down the middle, off an assist from DiGiacomo that solidified the 3-0 sweep.
 
"I thought we played well through the second set and the third set Oneonta started strong, so getting back into the set was important, and we did it again through blocking and some timely kills," Giufre said.
 
Konicki led the way with a team-high nine kills and a career-high seven blocks. Perez followed with eight kills and six blocks, while Williams was all over the court, registering seven kills, three blocks, an assist, an ace and finished second on the team with eight digs after libero Mia Waddle who recorded a team-high 14.
 
SUNY New Paltz's presence at the net resulted in a rough offensive night for the Red Dragons who hit just .052 in the game on 116 attempts. In all, the Hawks totaled 22 blocks in the match — a season-high.
 
"Vic was a huge presence for us, but all the blockers made it tough for their hitters to find space," Giufre said. "I'm really proud of how we battled through a match where we were out of sync and still found other ways to win points. Oneonta is a tough team and winning on the road is especially hard. This team is maturing day to day and working really hard in practice. It's a good start to SUNYAC play, but there's still a lot ahead of us to get ready for."
 
SUNY New Paltz go back into non-conference action this weekend when it heads to Montclair for a tri-match against the Red Hawks and Farmingdale State.
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