New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team improved to 2-0 in SUNYAC play after earning a 3-1 win (25-17, 25-15, 22-25, 25-17) over visiting SUNY Plattsburgh Friday in the Hawk Center.
 
"It's absolutely huge. We need to win as many SUNYAC games as we can. It doesn't matter what it looks like," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "It doesn't matter who it's against. We want to make the playoffs. We want to get better as a team. We want to have a shot to win this thing and you can only do that by getting in and you have to pile up wins to do that. I think we really had to grind tonight. We didn't play very sharp for significant portions. Our serving was very good. Plattsburgh has improved quite a bit this year compared to the last couple of years and when they got going in that third set in particular, they're a dangerous team with the hitters that they have, the libero that they have. It was really important for us to finish that off and get this win today."
 
SUNY New Paltz (6-6 overall, 2-0 SUNYAC) got out to a hot start and rolled through the first two sets, getting good serving from Mackenzie Williams and then Nicole Cooke to put the team in front 7-1 in the first, then 20-10 later on in the stanza, before closing out with a 25-17 win. Williams served through a 6-0 run to begin the set then served through another 6-0 run to help SUNY New Paltz to a 10-point cushion to stymie a late rally by the Cardinals who cut the deficit to 22-17 before Cooke helped the Hawks close out the final two points with Letisha Perez and Williams tallying kills to end the first.
 
 
Plattsburgh stayed tight with SUNY New Paltz to begin the second, but Cate DiGiacomo instigated an eight-point run to put the Hawks out in front, 20-9. Holding serve throughout the stretch, DiGiacomo tallied three assist an ace and forced the Cardinals into three attacking errors to aid in the 11-point advantage. Plattsburgh worked back to get to 23-15, but DiGiacomo found Perez once again with Cooke then closing out another set point with a good serve, resulting in a bad set by Plattsburgh's Emma Rivers.
 
The Cardinals got out fast, however, at the top of the third and owned a 5-0 lead thanks to three-straight aces by Meghan O'Brien. Two more aces by Plattsburgh's Shannon Fitzpatrick aided in an 8-2 cushion for the visitors leading Hawks coach Matt Giufre to insert freshman libero Haylee Scarincio to add more defense onto the floor. The substitution was beneficial as Scarincio helped SUNY New Paltz back in to get within four at 11-7. Makenzie Bills was the catalyst in the middle of the set, as the junior right side served three-straight points and forced a bad set, an attacking error and an ace on the run.

SUNY New Paltz tied the set at 20 after three-straight points with DiGiacomo finding Perez in the middle, then Ceci Brooks on the outside before going back to Perez to knot the score. The Cardinals answered, however, with three-straight points of their own, capitalizing off Hawk errors and ultimately stretched the game into the fourth following at kill by Kailtyn Bjelko.
 
The fourth saw SUNY New Paltz hold a slight two-point edge at 13-11 before a six-point unanswered stretch opened up the final set of the night. DiGiacomo served in well and following an attacking error by O'Brien registered an ace to help swing momentum. Two consecutive hitting errors by the Cardinals was followed by an emphatic kill from DiGiacomo to middle hitter Victoria Konicki to push the score to 19-11 in SUNY New Paltz's favor. Plattsburgh climbed back to get within five at 21-16, but the Hawks made sure to close out. A kill by Ceci Brooks put the hosts two points away from the win and Williams sealed it with a kill at match point. 
"Those first two sets we served really well and they struggled with it and then they started to pass better and serve better. It kind of changed the game there to their credit," Giufre said. "We didn't respond early enough in that third set. In the fourth set it was just about, we're not changing anything with the game plan, we're just going to focus on improving the quality of play, make sure we got all of our zones covered, and make sure we don't let something controllable beat us. They were a better blocking team than I had seen on film, so that rattled our hitters a little bit but I'm just proud of how we can bounce back after two, score-wise, fairly easy sets to then lose a third and come back out in the fourth and get up early was really important and I was really impressed with our team to have the ability to do that."
 
SUNY New Paltz hit just .128 as a team but played solid defensively overall and totaled 73 digs as a team led by junior libero Mia Waddell with 22. Williams followed with 13 to go along with 11 kills. Perez finished with a team-leading 15 kills, hitting .357 in the game on 28 attempts, while adding two service aces and a block. Konicki and Bills each had eight kills with Bills adding two aces, three blocks and 11 digs, while Konicki totaled five blocks — two solo — with two digs. DiGiacomo also had a solid day, registering 37 assists to go along with two aces and 10 digs.
 
"Something that's been there for the most part for us has been our defense. Our serving after the first week has been significantly better, and we missed a few more tonight than we have been, but we were a little bit more aggressive too and it was really helping us win points," Giufre said. "I think offensively, we're just looking to fine-tune that connection between pass-to-setter, setter-to-hitter, hitter to being on time. We're close. We're not far off and we've seen signs of it to know it's going to be there. We're just really trying to find that piece to really become the more-explosive team that I know we can become."
 
The Hawks are back in the Hawk Center Saturday to conclude their opening SUNYAC weekend against SUNY Potsdam at 1 p.m.

Hawks vs. Plattsburgh Highlights 

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