Providence, RI — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team finished the weekend at the Johnson & Wales University Tournament Saturday, falling to the hosting Wildcats and Clark University, 3-0 and 3-1, respectively.
 
"We played two more very good teams today and are not yet consistent enough to compete with them for a full match," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "Wed definitely learned a lot about ourselves and what separates those teams from us. We'll get back at it in practice this week and I'm completely confident this team has the character to bounce back stronger as we improve throughout the season."
 
The Hawks (0-5 overall) struggled early against Johnson & Wales (2-1) with the Wildcats winning the first two sets, 25-16 and 25-17, respectively. SUNY New Paltz made the third more exciting, tying the score at 19, and then 20-all following a skill by Samantha Cox, but the Wildcats countered with consecutive points to close out the sweep.
 
Katie Steele led SUNY New Paltz with seven kills on 22 attempts, while also registering an ace in the game. Ceci Brooks followed with six kills on 15 attempts, while Cate DiGiacomo finished with a team-high 16 assists to go along with five digs a block in the match. 
After dropping the first set against the Cougars, the Hawks came back to win the second, 25-23. Lauren Abbott and Samantha Cox registered kills on the team's final two points to tie the game at a set apiece. As a team, SUNY New Paltz hit just .058 in the match, but in the second they finished 14 of 29 attempts with just five hitting errors to hit a productive .310 in the winning set. However, the fourth and fifth they struggled to finish points, with Clark capitalizing on the other side of the net as they it totaled 26 kills to win the last two sets, 25-14 and 25-18, respectively.
 
Steele again had a team-high nine kills, followed by Letisha Perez and Abbot, each with eight. The two freshmen middles hitting a productive .33 and .313, respectively in the match and combined for four blocks. Mia Waddell matched a career-high with 18 digs, while DiGiacomo recorded a team-high 25 assists.
 
The Hawks are back in action Friday and Saturday when they host the Hawks Invitational in the Hawk Center. They will open up the tournament against Mount Saint Mary College at 5 p.m.
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