Morrisville, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz lost in four sets to hosting Morrisville Saturday, 25-13, 25-17, 22-25, 25-20.
 
The Hawks dropped to 9-11 overall and 2-3 in the SUNYAC after suffering its second straight loss and third in the last four games. The Mustangs improve to 14-6 overall and remain perfect in the SUNYAC at 6-0.
 
SUNY New Paltz's offense struggled throughout the game, as it finished with a hitting percentage of .087 while hitting in the negatives in the first set.
 
Jamie Albrecht led the team with 15 kills, hitting a productive .364 to go along with two aces and a team-leading 14 digs. Mirella Valluzzi followed with eight kills, adding a block and one dig. Letisha Perez tallied six kills, two assists, two and a half blocks and three digs. Elena Savage recorded a team-high 28 assists.
 
After falling behind 2-0 in the match, the Hawks fought back to earn a set in the third. A 7-0 run early allowed SUNY New Paltz to get in front, 11-7 with Albrecht serving through the stretch. She recorded two aces in the stanza, which was capped by a double block from Valluzzi and Lexi Stragalas. Morrisville got back within one at 14-13 but the Hawks scored six of the following seven points to take a 20-14 advantage. Albrecht served a good ball in after an attacking error allowed the Hawks to side out resulting in a bad set to push SUNY New Paltz to set point at 24-18. Valluzzi finally put an end to the set with a big swing for a kill off a set by Kim Braun to solidify a 25-22 win and push the match to a fourth set.  
SUNY New Paltz couldn't keep the rally alive, however, as the Mustangs grabbed match point at 24-16 following an 8-2 run after a kill by Albrecht got the score to 14-16 midway through the period. A service error at match point gave the Hawks life, scoring three more points to stem a run with Albrecht again the catalyst, serving through the 4-0 spurt, but the game came to a close off a bad set by Stragalas to seal the period at 25-20.
 
Morrisville held the advantage in nearly all statistical categories, including points (55-51), kills (42-39), aces (8-5), assists (39-38) and digs (53-50) while hitting .259 in the game.
 
SUNY New Paltz dropped to sixth in the SUNYAC standings with four more conference matches to go in the season. The Hawks return home for their next SUNYAC slate, hosting SUNY Canton Friday and Oswego Saturday at 6 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively in the Hawk Center.

 
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