New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up its final home SUNYAC weekend with a convincing sweep of visiting Oswego State Friday, 25-23, 25-21, 25-12.
 
The win was massive for the Hawks who are still fighting for the top seed in the conference postseason with their final regular season SUNYAC match looming Saturday against current No. 1 SUNY Cortland. A win over the Red Dragons would create a potential three-way tie with SUNY New Paltz, Cortland and Brockport, depending how results fall Saturday.
 
Against the Lakers Friday night in the Hawk Center, the Hawks battled through two sets against a solid Oswego team, which came back to tie the first at 21 after being down by three following a service error.
 
Hawks coach Matt Giufre called a timeout at 20-20 to regroup his side with his team regaining the lead at 23-22 on a long serve by the Lakers. SUNY New Paltz took advantage with Haylee Scarincio serving tough on the following point, helping in a hitting error that gave her team set point. Mackenzie Williams and Victoria Konicki then closed out the set getting up for a double block on an attempt outside to close out the first.
 
 
SUNY New Paltz were up big, 18-12 in the second and seemingly rolling to a 2-0 lead in the match but Oswego worked its way back to get within one at 20-19. Giufre called another timeout and out of the break Letisha Perez ripped a monster swing to push her team up 21-19, which ignited the 6-foot middle. The Hawks bounced off her energy and strung together four-straight points led by junior captain Cate DiGiacomo who served through the run with two aces to get her team to set point. Makenzie Bills then finalized the stanza with DiGiacomo setting her right side for the kill.
 
"I was not doing really good blocking tonight, but I was focused on getting better in that," Perez said. "In the second set I was in my head, but then, I don't remember the score, but I hit a really good ball and it got me out of it. My teammates were really supportive when I was on the bench, and I was like, yeah, I need to be better for my teammates and they are here for me. Then I was just playing volleyball after that, I'm just playing for myself."    
The momentum was fully swung toward SUNY New Paltz in the third as the hosts dominated the final set, hitting .440 with just one hitting error on 25 attempts. Perez and Victoria Konicki were the benefactors in the middle, combining for eight kills in the third while Scarincio aided in the 13-point win with three aces in the last few points of the set.
 
"We were more confident, and the energy was better, and we were secure enough at the net," Perez said. "We were just calling our hitters, we were just smiling, and we just were like, we got this. It was more about the energy and that's it."
 
Konicki led the team in kills with nine after hitting a productive .643 in the match, while adding one block and a dig. Perez followed with eight kills on a .313 hitting percentage with a solo block. DiGiacomo totaled a team-high 21 assists with three aces and three digs, while Scarincio registered four of the team's 11 aces in the win.
 
"Sometimes I was in my head in this game, but I had to battle it out," Perez said. "It felt really good to take this win and it feels really good, because now we're just one step [closer] to playing against Cortland. I hope that we're going to do really good tomorrow."
 
The highly anticipated matchup between the Hawks and Red Dragons is set for 1 p.m. Saturday in the Hawk Center.

Post-Game Interview Featuring Letisha Perez


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