The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team is back in SUNYAC play this weekend, hosting SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Potsdam in the Hawk Center, Friday and Saturday, respectively.
 
The Hawks (5-6 overall, 1-0 SUNYAC) are coming off a split at the Montclair Tri-Match, sweeping Farmingdale State before falling to the hosting Red Hawks in straight sets. SUNY New Paltz played without starting middle Letisha Perez against Montclair who was nursing an ankle injury, but the breakout freshman is projected to play against the Cardinals and Bears this weekend.
 
SUNY New Paltz has had a turbulent start to its season, as COVID protocols put half its starters out early on to influence an 0-5 start, but the team had a turnaround performance at the Hawks Invitational a few days before clinching its first SUNYAC victory on the road against SUNY Oneonta in straight sets. Plattsburgh and Potsdam will not be easy wins, as the Hawks are looking to become more consistent in their play that has shown flashes of the ceiling they have when clicking. 
 
"Going into this weekend, we're really amped up because this past weekend we only played a non-conference game," said Hawks senior middle hitter Hannah Miller. "We're working on a lot of things this week in practice that no one's really seen yet, so we're excited to showcase it this coming weekend."
 
The team has cleaned up its serving from their first five matches of the season and as of late has worked on its tempo and quick transition to become more efficient offensively. The Hawks are hitting just .139 as a team, ranking fifth in the SUNYAC with 429 kills on the year. However, their biggest strength thus far has been their play at the net. They have totaled 68 blocks, tied for second most in the conference. Victoria Konicki leads the way in that category with 29 total blocks, with Perez following with 24.
 
"This week we're really focusing on our serving," Miller said. "We feel like we can step that up a bit since our last couple games, and something that we learned over the weekend was even if you do well, you really have to forget about it and push on to the next game and continue working hard."
 
Plattsburgh (6-5, 1-0) under first year head coach Kelsea Healis, managed six wins in its first 11 games of the season, including victories over Castleton, Utica, SUNY Poly, SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam.
 
The Cardinals are hitting .128 as a team and are holding opponents to a .119 hitting percentage on the season, but are allowing nearly 10 kills per set. They've gotten good serving, totaling 105 aces on the year, registering nearly three per set. Sophomore outside Payton Zophy leads the team with 80 kills, hitting .144 on the season with 16 aces. Senior outside Meghan O'Brien follows with 76 kills and 23 service aces this season, while junior outside Jenn Braun has also totaled 76 kills, while hitting .215 on the year.
 
Plattsburgh has never beaten the Hawks in their last 28 matchups with SUNY New Paltz earning a four-set victory in 2019 the last time the two faced.
 
The Bears (4-4, 0-1) unfortunately have had an even more erratic opening to 2021 as COVID protocols forced the program to miss three games in the middle of their season after starting the year 1-2 in their first weekend with wins over Alfred and SUNY Canton. Their first opponent back after the hiatus was ironically the Cardinals who defeated Potsdam in four (11-25, 17-25, 25-20, 18-25). The team got their bearings again this past weekend at the Oswego State Invitational, as they took two wins from Elmira and Utica, but falling to St. John Fisher College.
 
Hitting just .135 as a team, the Bears are also keeping opponent's offenses to .137 hitting on the year, allowing less than 10 kills per set. They've struggled in serving and serve receive, totaling just 52 aces, while allowing 76 to its opposition and recording 64 receiving errors, averaging more than two per set. SUNY New Paltz will have an advantage at the net, as Potsdam has already allowed a combined 71 blocks, nearly two blocks against per set and have only totaled 35 itself, which is the worst in the conference.
 
The Bears' leading hitter is junior outside Jessica Ader, a Monroe-Woodbury High grad, who paces Potsdam in kills (85), points (90.5) points per set (3.02), kills per set (2.83), while hitting .228 and adding six assists and four aces through eight matches.
 
The Bears have never beaten the Hawks either, as SUNY New Paltz is 26-0 against the program and have swept Potsdam in its last four matches dating back to 2016.
 
SUNY New Paltz will face SUNY Oneonta Friday before concluding the weekend in the Hawk Center at 1 p.m.

In this weekend's set of games against the Cardinals and Bears, the Hawks will sport yellow laces to support the Go4theGoal Foundation, which helps kids who have pediatric cancer. To learn more or to donate to the Go4theGoal Foundation, visit their website at Go4theGoal.org.
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