New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz collected a 3-1 come-from-behind win over visiting Morrisville Friday night in the Hawk Center, 19-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-19.
The Hawks got out to an 8-1 lead to start the first with Morrisville struggling to get their swings above the net, but a timeout early on stymied a 4-0 run served through by
Jordyn Lewis and re-set the Mustangs who out-scored the hosts 15-7 to take their first lead of the set at 16-15. Morrisville continued the run and took their largest lead at 23-16 following a kill by Isabelle Eskierka.
Maria Weigand allowed SUNY New Paltz to side-out with a kill off an assist from
Kim Braun, but the Mustangs answered with a kill to earn set point and eventually took the 1-0 lead on a block by Samantha Siedlecki and Cassandra Bellmore two points later.
Morrisville rolled its momentum into the second set, grabbing an 8-3 advantage before
Courtney Meyer swung the stanza as she served through seven-straight points thanks to a kill by
Nora Keating that allowed the Hawks to side-out. SUNY New Paltz never trailed for the rest of the period. The Mustangs tied the score four times down the stretch, but the Hawks stayed steadfast, siding out on an attacking error to allow
Kaylee DeGroat to serve through the last four points of the period to earn a 25-21 win.
The match turned in the third. The two teams went back-and-forth to start with
Riley Guzman providing solid minutes defensively in the set, laying out to save a ball that resulted in an eventual point for SUNY New Paltz to tie the score at 3-3. A ball-handling error pushed the Hawks in front for the first time in the set at 10-9 and following a serving error, kills from freshmen
Reagan Dyba and
Maddy Casto, capped with an ace by Dyba, allowed the hosts to get out in front, 13-10.
However, the Mustangs rallied to score seven straight points which was ignited on three consecutive aces after Dyba served short to allow Morrisville to side-out. Weigand put an end to the stretch, finishing a long rally on a kill off an assist from Braun. She then put away a free ball on the next point before a huge solo block from
Lola Konopa got the Hawks within one.
SUNY New Paltz climbed out of another hole, getting down 21-16. The teams traded points until Morrisville got to set point at 24-19 following a hitting error. A long rally occurred on the following point with the ball going back and forth before Casto put an end to the point on a free ball kill to give her team life at 24-20. Braun then took over as she served hard through a 5-0 run. Another good defensive rally led to a Keating kill before Braun forced a bad set on the next point, which was followed by two hitting errors from the Mustangs that tied the score at 24-all. Dyba got in on the action smashing a kill off a nice sequence of Weigand with the pass to Braun for the set to Dyba for the spike. Braun then served in another tight ball that forced an errant reception, which sailed back over the net where Casto was waiting to smash the ball to the floor for an exclamation point end to the third, 26-24.
SUNY New Paltz took a five-point advantage midway through the fourth at 16-11 and again at 19-14 with Morrisville sticking around to keep the set tight. Dyba swung for back-to-back kills that pushed the Hawks lead to 22-18 before a serving error trimmed the difference to three. A nice pass from Dyba off a Mustangs serve led to a set and kill from Braun to Dyba to get the Hawks to match point. Dyba then capped the win, finding the soft spot in the back row with Morrisville unable to dig to solidify the 25-19 win.
Weigand was the catalyst, finishing with a career-high 18.5 points on a career-high 17 kills, while adding an ace, a block 16 digs. Dyba followed with 13 kills on 35 attempts, hitting .257 with an ace and seven digs. Keating and Casto were the x-factors of the match, both totaling career-high's in extended time on the floor. Keating finished with 10 kills on 27 attempts with two digs, while Casto registered seven kills on 12 attempts, hitting .500 with an assist and two digs.
Braun had one of her most complete games of her career, proving as the engine to the Hawks comeback victory. The junior captain facilitated the offense, tallying a career-high 43 assists, while adding two aces and 10 digs. Lewis, meanwhile, totaled a game-high 21 digs, while adding three assists and a kill.
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