Danbury, CT — The State University of New York New Paltz suffered its second consecutive loss after falling to hosting Western Connecticut State in four sets Wednesday.
 
The Hawks dropped to 5-2 overall, while the Wolves improved to 3-2 after earning a four set victory, 25-20, 22-25, 25-12, 25-19.
 
After losing the first set, SUNY New Paltz came back to tie the match in the second after coming from behind down 20-16 in the period. Christine Balbona allowed the Hawks to side out, registering a kill off an assist from Elena Savage. Kaley Jankowski served through the next three points, as she contributed back-to-back aces to tie the set at 20-20.
 
The two teams traded points before a solo block by Lexi Stragalas allowed SUNY New Paltz to hold serve one last time at 22-all. Jordyn Lewis helped the Hawks to four-straight points for the three-point win, as attacking errors by West Conn, sandwiched between a kill by Stragalas, sealed the set for the visitors.
 
The Hawks couldn't take the momentum into the third, scoring just 12 points off three kills, hitting a season-low -.276 in the set with 11 hitting errors.  
The fourth was tighter to start with the score tied at all 11 following a kill from Weigand and again at 13 after a bad set by the Wolves, but two straight points on a kill and an attacking error from SUNY New Paltz pushed the hosts in front, and the Hawks trailed the rest of the way.
 
West Conn held set point at 24-17 following a service ace. Nora Keating and Weigand kept the match alive with consecutive kills, both off assists from Savage but the Wolves sealed the win a point later off a kill to take the four-set victory.

Stragalas led the Hawks with 9.5 points off six kills, two aces and two blocks to go along with two assists and nine digs. Weigand followed, totaling a team-high nine kills and adding four assists and nine digs. Savage facilitated the offense, accumulating a team-high 25 assists, while registering three kills, two aces, a block and four digs. Jankowski finished with a game- and career-high three aces, while Meyer posted a game-high 20 digs.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Saturday, competing in the Union Tournament in Schenectady, NY against Hartwick and Williams College at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.


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