SUNY New Paltz Athletics

New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz advanced to its fifth-straight SUNYAC Semifinal following a 3-0 sweep of No. 6 seeded SUNY Morrisville Tuesday night in the Hawk Center.
 
The No. 3 seeded Hawks (16-13 overall, 6-3 SUNYAC) defeated the Mustangs (14-13, 4-5) in three sets (25-21, 25-13, 25-22) for the second time on the year following an impressive performance in the quarterfinal round Tuesday. Junior setter Kim Braun was the catalyst, as she not only facilitated the offense with a game-high 24 assists to five different hitters, but her serving run in the first set established the tone for the rest of the match to allow her team to get out in front with a 1-0 lead.
 
Down 20-16, Braun went to junior middle Lexi Stragalas for a kill to help SUNY New Paltz side-out. Morrisville re-established the four-point cushion on the next point to end a long rally with a kill, catching the Hawks out of system. The visitors bailed the Hawks out though, serving out to give the ball to Braun at the serving line where she served through seven straight points en route to a 25-21 first set win.
 
Lola Konopa and Nora Keating started the stretch with a block on Morrisville's Isabelle Eskierka before Konopa smashed a free ball following a hard serve from Braun that the Mustangs had trouble passing cleanly. The run continued as Morrisville was called on a net violation to end a long rally in favor of the Hawks to push the period into set point with Braun doing the rest, acing on the final point to give her team the 1-0 lead.
 
Braun finished the set with three aces and six assists with Keating and Konopa playing big at the net, combining for three blocks and five kills in the stanza.

The momentum carried into the second set for SUNY New Paltz as it rolled to a comfortable, 25-13 win in the second. The offense was rolling, as the Hawks hit a productive .333 in the set with Braun adding nine more assists. Keating was the hot hand on the right side, adding four kills in the period on five attempts with SUNY New Paltz's defense doing its job, holding the Mustangs to negative .108 hitting mark in the set.
 
 
The Hawks trailed just within the opening points of the third before taking a six-point lead midway through the set capped on another ace from Braun to extend the lead, 16-10 to force the visitors into the timeout.
 
The stoppage worked in Morrisville's favor, able to side-out out of the break and score two more points to cut the difference to three. Keating ended the surge though, as Braun set the junior right side for a hard swing resulting in her eighth kill of the night. SUNY New Paltz jumped ahead, 20-14 thanks to back-to-back kills by Maria Weigand and Keating along with an ace from libero Courtney Meyer, but the Mustangs showed some life as the Hawks served long and hit into the net to galvanize a 4-0 Morrisville run to get the score within two.
 
Braun kept feeding Keating who ended the stretch before coach Matt Giufre subbed in Elena Savage to help the Hawks build upon their lead. The sophomore setter came in clutch, serving hard to force consecutive hitting errors to grab a 23-18 advantage for her team. Morrisville managed to win the ball back on an errant pass by SUNY New Paltz on the following point to revive a rally but after the Hawks iced the Mustangs at 23-21, the visitors served short to push the game to match point. Reagan Dyba then sealed the win two points later, ending another long rally with a kill to finalize a 25-22 set-three victory.
 
Keating led the team with 10 points on nine kills, hitting a productive .467 in the match with two blocks. Konopa and Dyba followed with seven kills apiece. Konopa hit .500 on 12 attempts, while adding a block and three digs, while Dyba added five digs to her total. Weigand finished with five kills, an assist, an ace and six digs. Defensively, both Hawks liberos Meyer and Lewis registered double-digit digs with 12 and 10, respectively. Meyer also recorded three aces while Lewis added an ace and an assist.
 
SUNY New Paltz advances on to the SUNYAC Semifinal Friday in Cortland, NY against No. 2 seeded Oswego at 6:30 p.m. The winner will face either No. 1 seeded, reigning champs and tournament hosts Cortland or No. 5 seed Buffalo State Saturday in the Championship round at 4 p.m. in Whitney T. Corey '43 Gymnasium


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