Dallas, PA - The State University of New York at Paltz hit the road to head to Misericordia University for day one of the Misericordia Tournament. They faced Montclair State University, sweeping the Red Hawks in two dominant sets and coming out victorious against them in an exciting overtime in the third, 25-18, 25-20, 30-28. They then went on to face the Misericordia Cougars, falling to them in four sets, 16-25, 25-20, 21-25, 19-25. 

The evening began with SUNY New Paltz facing off against Montclair State University. At the start of the first set, the lead changed between the competitors multiple times. Midway through the set, SUNY New Paltz had the lead and three straight points for the Hawks forced Montclair State to take a time-out, the score being 16-12. SUNY New Paltz came out of the time out with the same intensity, scoring another three consecutive points to make the score 19-12. Montclair State attempted to shorten the deficit, but the Hawks had the lead until the end of the set, which they took 25-18.  

The second set began with another run by SUNY New Paltz, as they capitalized off errors by Montclair State. The Red Hawks were quick to retaliate and took the lead back at 5-4. The score would go back and forth until Cate DiGiacomo assisted Letisha Perez on a kill that would allow the Hawks to regain the lead and go on a seven-point run. The Hawks had been pulling away from Montclair, and a bad set by the Red Hawks after a prolonged rally secured SUNY New Paltz the lead until they were victorious in the set 25-20. 

Montclair was forced to put it all out on the court in the third to try and force a fourth set. The scores of both teams would never be more than three points apart the entire match. A block by Letisha Perez late in the match tied the score at 24, forcing overtime. Montclair scored their 25th point, but the Hawks scored off a kill by Samantha Cox, tying the score again. Cox scored again, putting SUNY New Paltz up one, but Montclair would score once again. This pattern repeated until the 28th point, where a kill by Mackenzie Williams and a block by Letisha Perez would give the Hawks their final two points, and they would win the set 30-28 along with sweeping the Red Hawks 3-0 for the match.  

In the latter game, SUNY New Paltz would face Misericordia on their home court. The first set was close between the Hawks and the Cougars, until Misericordia was able to pull away with a seven-point run, forcing SUNY New Paltz to use two time-outs. The Hawks were unable to get on a scoring roll, and the Cougars continued with this gained momentum to take the set 25-16.  

The second set would favor the Hawks. They were able to capitalize on the Cougar's mistakes and produced more scoring opportunities, evident by the almost doubled number of total kills from the previous set. Despite Misericordia's efforts to regain the lead, the Hawks won the set 25-20. 

When it came to the third and fourth sets, Misericordia had the same intensity they brought to the first set. The Hawks were kept to few multiple point runs, and whatever opportunities they had to pull away from the Cougars were squashed by an interrupting point from Misericordia. The Cougars took the third 25-21, and the forced fourth set 25-19. The Hawks record for the day was now 1-1.  

The Hawks had some impressive stat lines for the day. Mackenzie Williams led the Hawks in total kills, accumulating 22 for the day. Letisha Perez was close behind, having 19 kills and 1.5 total blocks. Cate DiGiacomo had 49 total assists, 34 of them occurring in the match against Montclair State.  

The Hawks will compete against Elmira College and the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Saturday's portion of the Misericordia Tournament. The first game begins at 11 a.m.   

 
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