Madison, NJ — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team struggled on the road against Drew University Wednesday and dropped the match in straight sets, 17-25, 17-25, 14-25.
 
The loss broke a mini two-game winning streak with the Hawks (7-7 overall) also winning seven of eight matches coming into the contest before falling to the Rangers. The first-year program upped their record to 12-2 on the year following the victory.
 
SUNY New Paltz hit in the negative, finishing with a -.050 hitting percentage and totaled just 16 kills and 21 hitting errors. Credit to Drew's defense, which played solid throughout the match and totaled 46 digs in the game.
 
"We knew coming in Drew is a very solid team and they flat out beat us in every aspect," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "Our offensive numbers were awful, but in the beginning of the match we weren't putting in enough effort defensively and gave them some easy points."
 
SUNY New Paltz struggled in set one, as Giufre used a multitude of players along his bench. Mackenzie Bills went 2-for-2 early on in the first to cut the deficit just to one at 4-3, but the Rangers hit well, avoiding blockers at the net and stormed out to a 7-3 lead resulting in the first timeout by Giufre in the set. Drew extended its lead to 10-3 following the break with Nicole Cooke finally putting an end to the run after subbing in for the first time in the game and served through four points to cut the score to 10-5. 
Giufre called another timeout following a pair of hitting errors and a serving error, which gave the Rangers a 15-7 advantage. Although the Hawks worked back to 21-16, the deficit was too much to overcome as they dropped the first, 25-17, after ending the last three points with a pair of hitting errors and a serving error into the net.
 
SUNY New Paltz inserted its traditional starters for the second but continued to struggle and faced an early 6-1 deficit in set two, leading to a Giufre timeout. Stepping in for an injured Katie Steele at outside, Samantha Cox began a little bit of a rally for the Hawks following a strong swing for a kill. Mia Waddell added on serving for ace on the next point, which was followed with a hitting error by Drew to get SUNY New Paltz within one at 6-5.
 
The Hawks tied the set at six, seven and eight, but never gained the lead over the Rangers in the second as a five-point run by the hosts broke the set open with SUNY New Paltz unable to close the gap. The Hawks finally sided out after a misfire by the Rangers to cut the deficit, 14-9. After the two teams traded points, a pair of hitting errors kept SUNY New Paltz alive to get within three.

Drew collected two more points off hitting errors by the Hawks leading to another timeout by Giufre at 18-12. The Rangers extended their cushion to 20-13 before Bills put an end to the stretch by beating a double block on the right side for a kill. Waddell helped the Hawks to another point, extending to register a dig and then sending the ball back over to keep the point alive, which eventually was ended with a kill on a tipped ball by Miller. However, SUNY New Paltz couldn't ride the momentum as the Rangers put away the next point with a kill to get within three of a 2-0 lead. Ultimately, a pair of kills by Drew and then an ace finalized the 25-17 second set.
 
The final stanza mirrored the first two, as SUNY New Paltz got out slow and found themselves in a 5-1 hole then a 13-5 disadvantage that they never recovered from. The closest they came was at 16-12, but a seven-point run from there propelled the Rangers to a 25-14 finish to end the match.
 
Perez registered a team-high four kills, followed by Bills with three. Bills led the team with two blocks and added a dig. Cate DiGiacomo totaled a team-most 10 assists, while Waddell finished with 16 digs to lead the Hawks.

"We will keep working on everything in practice, but the main thing we need to learn is how to compete and play with passion when we're not playing our best," Giufre said. "The physical tools have been there, but unless we learn to compete and grind when things aren't easy this could happen again. It's my job to figure out how to help our players find that within and once we do, we will be a dangerous team to play. It just needs to happen soon. We have a lot of tough matches ahead of us to prove we can be a top team if we really have the desire to be." 
 
Next up for SUNY New Paltz is a tri-match at Kean University to take on the hosting Cougars and Hunter College in back-to-back matches Saturday at 4 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.
*******************************************

To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.