New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz hosted SUNY Cortland Saturday in the Hawk Center with both teams fighting for a chance to host the SUNYAC Tournament.
 
The Hawks came out strong, holding all the momentum through two sets and was on the verge of clinching the top spot in the conference with a 3-0 sweep, but the Red Dragons rallied from two sets down to earn the five-set victory over SUNY New Paltz, 25-21, 25-17, 10-25, 23-25, 10-15.
 
Senior libero Mia Waddell helped in the Hawks' early lead in the first, digging a hard-hit ball to keep the point alive with the score tied at six with Victoria Konicki taking advantage swinging hard from the middle for the kill. Two points later, Waddell again helped sustain a long rally diving to pancake a ball that eventually led to a kill by Mackenzie Williams on the outside to re-up the host's advantage.
 
The set continued back-and-forth with the Red Dragons taking their largest lead at 19-16 following a five-point run. A service error gave the Hawks life, and they took advantage as junior transfer Kayleigh Emanuelson subbed in to serve through the next two points, leading to a kill by Katie Steele and then acing on the next point to tie the score at 19-all. Cortland led once more at 21-20, but SUNY New Paltz answered with five unanswered points, as Williams put an exclamation point on the win with a hard swing from the outside, which found the empty spot in the middle of the floor.
 
 
The Hawks rode their momentum into the second set with Cortland struggling to serve receive. SUNY New Paltz stormed out to an 8-0 run and never gave up control the rest of the set with Williams catching fire registering five kills in the stanza while hitting above .400 to aid in the eventual, 25-17 win.
 
However, the game turned in the third with Cortland this time coming out hot and jumping to a 5-0 advantage, which soon ballooned to 11-1. SUNY New Paltz coach Matt Giufre called a timeout at 10-1 and after the Hawks lost the next point, he started subbing in some of his bench to help reignite momentum. All for not, though, as his team struggled to get back into the set, hitting a lackluster -.115 with just four kills to fall by 15 points.
 
The fourth set evened for both teams, but a reversed call by the officials that took a point away from the Hawks, gave Cortland a 15-14 lead that proved crucial down the stretch. Letisha Perez helped win back a point on the next play with an emphatic swing on a set by Cate DiGiacomo to tie the score once more. DiGiacomo then fed Steele on the outside to help her team to a 17-16 lead, but the Red Dragons answered with two straight points. Following a kill by Konicki, DiGiacomo went to Williams on back-to-back plays with the junior beating Cortland's double block twice to push the score to 20-19 Hawks. The score was tied on two more occasions at 22 and 23-all, but Cortland earned set point on a miss-hit by Williams and following a Giufre timeout, a miscommunication on the last serve allowed the Red Dragons to capitalize and force a match deciding fifth set.
Cortland helped SUNY New Paltz to a 1-0 advantage to open up the final period on a bad set by Meadow Wittman with Williams pushing the Hawks up once more at 2-1 following a kill, but the Red Dragons answered with a 4-0 run and never relinquished the lead from that point forward, as they held an 8-5 advantage at the switch.
 
SUNY New Paltz tightened the gap as close as two at 9-7 and 10-8 following kills by Steele and Konicki, but ultimately couldn't get on a serving run and allowed Cortland to score five of the last seven points to close out the game.
 
The Hawks were dominant at the net and totaled 14 blocks for a season-high, but the Red Dragons held the advantage in every other category: points (73-72), kills (56-53), aces (12-5), assists (56-50), digs (69-67) and hitting percentage (.195 to .172).
 
Williams led the team offensively with 20 kills on 47 attempts, while adding two aces, two blocks and seven digs for a team-leading 23 points. Konicki followed with 11 kills on 25 attempts to hit a productive, .400 in the match, while adding five blocks. Perez and Steele each totaled eight kills, along with adding seven and two blocks each, respectively. DiGiacomo recorded 40 assists to lead her team, while adding three kills, an ace, three blocks and 17 digs, just behind Waddell who totaled a game-high 23 digs while adding nine assists.  
 
The win allowed Cortland to grab the top seed in the SUNYAC Tournament, which begins with the quarterfinal round Nov. 1. The Hawks own the No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 Buffalo State in the Hawk Center at 6 p.m. Nov. 1. The winner will travel to Cortland and face No. 2 seed Brockport Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. with the championship match taking place on the Red Dragons home floor Nov. 5 at 4 p.m.
 
SUNY New Paltz still has a two-game slate before postseason begins, however, as it will travel to Poughkeepsie to face hosting Vassar College and William Paterson University in a tri-match Oct. 29.

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