The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team resumes its non-conference schedule Saturday when it faces hosting Kean University and Hunter College in back-to-back games.
 
The Hawks (7-7 overall) is coming off a disappointing performance on the road at Drew University. The first-year Rangers swept SUNY New Paltz in straight sets with the Hawks struggling to generate any type of offense, which hindered them from digging out of early deficits in all three sets.
 
"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," said SUNY New Paltz coach Matt Giufre following the loss Wednesday. "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."
  The Hawks have fluctuated offensively all year, but their loss against Drew was the second time where they hit in the negative and produced a season-low 16 kills. After shaking off a rough 0-5 start to the season, the young program has showed glimpses of its potential but have yet put it together for consecutive games. SUNY New Paltz went into Wednesday's outing winning seven of eight and hope to get back into the win column against two programs who have struggled as well going into Saturday.
 
Kean is 5-9 overall this season and have lost four consecutive games, two of which came from NJAC opposition in Montclair State and Stockton University. The Hawks themselves also lost to the Red Hawks earlier in the season, 3-0.
 
The Cougars, who are 2-2 on their home floor, has hit .174 as a team and are led offensively by junior middle hitter Kayla Thornton who has totaled 148 kills, averaging more than three kills per set while hitting .360 on the season. Sophomore outside Ashley Smith follows with 136 kills, averaging 2.72 per set, while adding 17 aces on the season, tied for third-most on the team. Instructing the offense is sophomore setter Kylie Brua who has totaled 346 assists to go along with 16 kills and 18 aces on the season.
 
The last time the two programs faced each other was in 2019 in the Hawk Center where SUNY New Paltz secured an exciting five-set victory.
 
SUNY New Paltz also defeated the opposing Hawks in 2019, winning in four sets on Hunter's home court. Heading into Saturday, Hunter has only played seven games going 2-5 in the stretch. It has lost three-straight games but has a contest against Stockton Thursday in hopes to end the skid.
 
Hunter is hitting just .100 as a team, averaging nine kills per set. Senior outside Alex Sayson has totaled a team-most 47 kills, averaging about two per set and is followed by sophomore outside Erin Dugan who has recorded 41 on the year. Senior setter Justine Smith, who was named as the CUNYAC Player of the Week earlier this season, conducts the Hawks offense, as she's totaled 140 assists, averaging nearly seven assists per set and has added eight aces thus far through seven matches.
 
Freshman middle hitter Letisha Perez continues to lead SUNY New Paltz offensively, totaling a team-high 104 kills, while hitting .285 on the year. Sophomore outside Mackenzie Williams in 10 matches played has recorded 78 kills and leads the team in kills per set (2.36) and points per set (3.02), while also pacing the Hawks with 17 aces on the year. Starting setter Cate DiGiacomo and starting libero Mia Waddell follow her in that category as each has registered 15 service aces in 14 matches played. DiGiacomo, a sophomore in her first season, has registered 344 assists thus far, averaging more than seven per set. Junior Waddell paces her team in digs with 215, tallying nearly four per set.
 
The Hawks are set to face Hunter at 2 p.m. before taking on the Cougars at 4 p.m. in Union, NJ.
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