Geneseo, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz got back in the win column Saturday after earning a four-set victory on the road over SUNY Geneseo, 18-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-13.
 
The Hawks improved to 9-2 on the season and 2-1 in the SUNYAC after dropping a tough five-set match Friday night against The College at Brockport.
 
"I thought we did a pretty good job flushing last night's loss and being ready to go today, then Geneseo came out on fire, and we really couldn't do anything right in that first set," said SUNY New Paltz coach Matt Giufre. "We made a couple adjustments and credit to our players for rolling with it and trusting each other's ability to play their role."
 
The Knights (6-7, 1-1) came out hot and took the first set and nearly came away with a 2-0 lead after holding a 23-21 advantage before earning set point at 24-23. Cate DiGiacomo set Mackenzie Williams to tie the set at 24, which propelled a three-point run to help tie the match at a set apiece. Dana Collins served through the last two points, forcing an attacking error by Geneseo before Williams closed out the second with a kill on an assist by DiGiacomo.
 
"Even down set point in the second set, it's not a given you'll come back and win but this team has proven several times we can handle having our back against the wall and keeping our composure to make the plays we need to make at those moments," Giufre said. The end of the second sparked the Hawks and they took over from the third set on. They were up by as many as 20-11 in the third and eventually held set point at 24-17 following an attacking error from the Knights. Letisha Perez gave SUNY New Paltz the 2-1 lead after finishing on a kill on a set by DiGiacomo in the middle.
 
The fourth set was tied 10 times including at 23-all before the Hawks ended with consecutive points. DiGiacomo went back to Williams on the outside to get her team to match point with Williams ending the match on an ace to push her team to their second SUNYAC win of the season.
 
"It was a team effort with Dana coming on and serving some critical points and Sam [Cox] settled our serve receive which helped us avoid getting in ruts," Giufre said. "I think this weekend showed how strong SUNYAC is this year and how talented the athletes and teams really are. We proved we can play with two of the best yet there's still a long way to go and we need to polish up parts of our game if we want to be around at the end."
 
SUNY New Paltz hit nearly .200 in the game with DiGiacomo doing a good job of spreading the offense around. Perez (14), Williams (12) and Victoria Konicki (11) each ended with double digit kills with Makenzie Bills following with eight and Katie Steele with five. Williams added a team-high three aces and seven digs, while Konicki had four blocks. DiGiacomo totaled 43 assists, while Mia Waddell led her team defensively with 21 digs.
 
"Cate did a fantastic job establishing Letisha and Vic in the middle and using that to our advantage in some pretty tough situations and those two executed well," Giufre said. "Makenzie Bills had a big impact as we were playing our way back into the match and as Geneseo started to neutralize her, we got Mack and Katie going a little more and they helped close it out."
 
The Hawks return to SUNYAC action next weekend when they travel up I-87 to face SUNY Potsdam and Plattsburgh State Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m., respectively.

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