New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz bounced back with a dominant 3-0 sweep of visiting Potsdam Friday night in the Hawk Center.
 
The win improved the Hawks to 11-9 overall and 3-2 in the SUNYAC, while dropping the Bears to 8-11 and 1-3, respectively.
 
SUNY New Paltz rebounded from a tough three set loss against Cortland last weekend with a convincing performance against the Bears taking the match in three quick sets: 25-13, 25-11, 25-15.
 
The Hawks had a complete performance, as they dominated in every statistical category, out-hitting Potsdam, .242 to -.072, while gaining more points (53-17), kills (37-13), aces (11-1), blocks (5-3), assists (34-11) and digs (53-32).
 
SUNY New Paltz served hard and set the tone from the onset, going up 8-2 in the first and never trailed in the stanza. Maria Weigand hammered a kill off an assist from Kim Braun to push the lead to 20-11 and after the Bears answered with two straight points, the Hawks ended the set on a 5-0 stretch helped by a serving run from Jordyn Lewis. A block by Lola Konopa and Reagan Dyba on the outside allowed SUNY New Paltz to side out, handing the ball to Lewis who aced her first attempt. Christine Balbona then registered back-to-back kills, first on a free ball that she hammered down on one swing and the next off an assist in the middle from Braun. Lewis then closed out the first one an ace to give her team the 1-0 lead.
 
 
The Hawks only trailed at 2-1 in the second before scoring seven straight points to get out in front and never relinquished the lead from that point forward. Courtney Meyer served through a 6-0 run midway through the set to help push her team to a 19-8 advantage, aided by consecutive hitting errors from Potsdam. SUNY New Paltz helped the visitors side out on a hitting and setting error, but it regrouped to score the next five points to get to set point. Weigand bookended the surge, registering a kill to end a long rally off an assist from Meyer before capping the stretch with an ace. Reagan Dyba but the exclamation point on the period, swinging hard for a set-winning kill off an assist by Braun.  
The Bears opened the third with three straight points, but a serving error allowed the Hawks to side-out with Lewis serving six straight points to give her team a 7-3 lead. Braun ended the run with a lifting one-handed dump, deceiving Potsdam's front row to score another point for her team.
 
SUNY New Paltz controlled the set from there and ballooned its advantage to 17-8 thanks to a nice serving run by Elena Savage who subbed in at setter for Braun. Savage tallied consecutive aces before Chloe Choi added on with a kill. Choi then got up for a big block alongside Lola Konopa to boost the difference to 11 for the Hawks. Choi registered another block, this time with Balbona in the middle, to push her team to match point at 24-13. A service error eventually concluded the match three points later, 25-15.
 
It was a balanced offensive night for SUNY New Paltz with eight different players registering a kill and two more with at least two points. Dyba led all scorers with 9.5 points on seven kills, two aces, a block and seven digs. Weigand followed with nine points on seven kills, two aces and 13 digs. Konopa and Balbona each totaled six kills apiece, along with three and two blocks, respectively. Lewis registered a game-high five aces with 13 digs, while Braun finished with a game-high 25 assists to go along with three kills and four digs.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back on the court Saturday, hosting Plattsburgh at 1 p.m. in the Hawk Center. The team will honor its three graduating seniors in outside Kailey Jankowski, right side Mirella Valluzzi and team manager Alyssa Rocuzzo.
 

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