Fredonia, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz went on the road and captured a big road SUNYAC win over hosting Fredonia State Friday night in five sets (13-25, 26-24, 25-17, 19-25, 15-8).
 
The Hawks (14-11 overall, 5-3 SUNYAC) struggled to start, hitting zero on seven kills and seven errors in the first, which allowed Fredonia (9-13, 5-3) to take a 1-0 lead in the match but they turned their fortunes around in a hard-fought extended second period.
 
SUNY New Paltz held the lead for most of the second set, taking an 18-13 lead following a Blue Devils hitting error. However, the hosts worked their way back to eventually tie at 20-all before going up at 24-23 with a block on the Hawks' Lexi Stragalas to get to set point. SUNY New Paltz regrouped on the next point, as setter Kim Braun went to Maria Wegiand on the outside who beat Fredonia's blockers to tie the set at 24-all.
 
Riley Guzman, who earned extended minutes on the floor in the outing, came in and served hard and aced to push her team to set point. Another good serve by Guzman on the following point forced an errant pass that led to a hitting error for Fredonia to help SUNY New Paltz capture the 26-24 victory.
 
Middles Lola Konopa and Stragalas were key in the stanza, combining for five of the team's six solo blocks in the period with numerous tips at the net to stymy the Blue Devils' offense, which hit zero in the set with eight kills and eight errors on 39 attempts.  
Konopa kept the hot hand, as she helped her team to an early lead in set three. She swung hard on a set by Braun for a kill and then registered another point, smashing a free ball down to push the score to 4-2. She, alongside right side Mirella Valluzzi, was there on the right side on the next point with the Blue Devils hitting in the net to extend the Hawks run to four.
 
Reagan Dyba allowed SUNY New Paltz to maintain the four-point lead at 13-7, but Fredonia countered with six-straight points to tie the set at 13. The Hawks re-established their four-point cushion eight points later, as Braun utilized a free ball by the Blue Devils to set Weigand on the outside who found the back corner for the kill. Jordyn Lewis went to Weigand on the next point to cap the surge, as the sophomore came through again on a big swing to push the lead to 19-15.
 
The closest the hosts got down the stretch in the third was at 20-17, but SUNY New Paltz sealed the 2-1 lead with a five-point run. Guzman was the catalyst in the stretch, continuing to serve hard with Fredonia having trouble making a good pass out of the initial ball in. An attacking error gave the Hawks a 23-17 lead before an ace from Guzman pushed the score to set point. Weigand put the finishing touches on the win, swinging for a kill off an assist from Lewis.
 
Fredonia didn't go away and grinded a fourth-set victory to force a deciding fifth stanza. After the Blue Devils scored the initial two points of the period, SUNY New Paltz countered with a 5-0 run and from there, they never trailed. Libero Courtney Meyer did a good job digging a hard swing by Fredonia to keep the point alive with SUNY New Paltz putting the ball back over the net with the hosts hitting out to extend the cushion to 7-4. A miss-hit at the net gave the Hawks an 8-4 lead at the switch with Weigand acing on the next point forcing a Fredonia timeout.
 
SUNY New Paltz's continued to hold momentum, as the Blue Devils called another timeout at 11-5 after a kil by Dyba. Valluzzi aided in match point, as her swing was initially saved, but Fredonia couldn't get the ball over the net on a shank on the dig, resulting in a bad set on the stat sheet. Weigand fittingly closed out the win for her team, as Braun went to the Howard Beach, NY native two points later for the game-winning kill at 15-8.
 
It was a defensive battle between the two teams as the Hawks hit slightly better at .073 to Fredonia's .065. SUNY New Paltz scored more points (60-54) and had more kills (42-39), aces (9-8), blocks (9-7), assists (37-35) and digs (90-81).
 
Konopa finished with a game-high five blocks, two shy of her career-high, with four solo blocks — the most in a single game for her career. She added eight kills, hitting a productive .471 with three digs and 12.5 points. Weigand had a game-high 14.5 points and 13 kills with an assist, an ace, a block and 13 digs. Defensively, Lewis matched a career-high with a game-high 25 digs, while recording a game-high three aces with three assists and a kill. Braun facilitated the offense, totaling 32 assists with an ace and 12 digs.
 
The win pushed the Hawks at 5-3 in the SUNYAC, matching Fredonia while holding the tie-break over the Blue Devils with their last conference matchup set for Saturday against Buffalo State, which after Friday night also sits at 5-3 in the league standings. A win over the Bengals will guarantee SUNY New Paltz a spot in the postseason tournament for the 21st straight season.
 
The Hawks are set to face Buffalo State Saturday at Buffalo Sports Arena at 1 p.m.


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