New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz is headed to the SUNYAC tournament. The Hawks will play in the semifinals, and if victorious, will play for the championship title in the SUNYAC finals Saturday on the campus of SUNY Cortland. 

The Hawks (20-7 overall, 8-1 in conference), have had a stellar season, beating out tough conference competitors such as Brockport, Geneseo and Oswego. But the real work was in the victories against non-league teams, which were all momentum-building wins for the team. "We had a really great game against Williams earlier in our season that we viewed as a turning point as to what our team could become and since then our execution has improved a lot," recalled senior co-captain setter Cate DiGiacomo. 

The Hawks will face the Geneseo Knights in the SUNYAC semifinals. SUNY New Paltz received a bye for being the No. 2 seed in the tournament, trailing the Cortland Red Dragons, who have remained in first place within the SUNYAC standings since defeating the Hawks. "After knowing we will be playing Geneseo in the semifinals coach has worked hard on our practice plans to make sure we are physically ready," said junior outside hitter Jamie Albrecht. 

Although the Knights fell to the Hawks in the regular season in a 3-2 battle, the game will still be competitive, as the Knights (13-13, 7-2) are coming off an impressive 3-0 sweep against Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC quarterfinals. They boast noteworthy players such as junior setter Jenna Garvey, who tallied 290 assists this season, and senior outside hitter Linda Rossi, who leads the team in kills (185). 
For SUNY New Paltz, there has been a lot of hard work done to get to this point. "We began our preseason with five-hour practices, and I believe that these practices have given us the endurance to outlast teams in five sets," commented Albrecht. "We place a great deal of emphasis on our four core values —trust, continuous improvement, people, and a healthy lifestyle — and we strive to improve on one each week."

This season showed success on all parts of the court. Senior co-captain Mackenzie Williams has had a stellar season, especially the latter portion, as she has risen to be the team's leader in both kills (287) and service aces (37). She is followed by Albrecht, who has accumulated 286 kills and is second in total blocks (46.0). DiGiacomo has solidified her place in the history books, surpassing her 2,000 career assists this season, totaling an impressive 778. Junior middle Letisha Perez and senior libero Melanie Podstupka have also acted as true leaders on the court, leading in blocks (58) and leading in digs (355), respectively. Freshman middle Lexi Stragalas has also left her mark on the score sheet during her inaugural season, being fourth on the team in kills (107). Coach Matt Giufre has also reached the incredible accomplishment of his 500th career win this season, and going beyond that milestone, earning even more victorious afterwards. 

Although the regular season showed remarkable statistics and wins, the team has now focused on the future during practice, and has used all the growth and lessons learned this season to get ready for the semifinal. "We have prepared for this tournament by focusing on what we can control which is our energy, our effort, and our preparation," DiGiacomo noted.  "In practice and games, we have focused on getting one percent better at something every day. We also made it a goal to max out and give all of the energy and effort we have to give every day we step on the court, if we play with that mindset, we will have success this weekend."

If the Hawks defeat the Knights, they will advance to the SUNYAC championship, facing the Brockport and Cortland match winner, a game that will be played on Nov. 10 as well, beginning at 4 p.m. The championship match will be the following day, Nov. 11, at 4 p.m. 

The semifinal match between SUNY New Paltz and Geneseo begins Friday at 7 p.m.

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