BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Cortland fought off six set points to win the opening set and rode that momentum to defeat Oneonta, 3-0, in the SUNYAC women's volleyball tournament quarterfinals. Cortland (20-16), the fifth seed, won 29-27, 25-15, 25-15 to advance to the league semifinals for the 31st time in the 32-year history of the tournament.
Cortland will face top seed and host Brockport at 6 p.m. Saturday. In Friday's other quarterfinal match, third seed Oswego outlasted sixth seed Fredonia in five sets, 25-16, 19-25, 16-25, 25-19, 16-14. Oswego will play second seed New Paltz at 3 p.m. Saturday. Brockport and New Paltz received byes into the semifinals.
Sophomore
Nicole Silberer (Centereach) led Cortland with 11 kills and junior
Samantha Czeczotka (Elwood/John H. Glenn) finished with nine kills, a .368 attack percentage, two aces and nine digs. Sophomore
Courtney Silberer (Centereach) totaled seven kills and a team-high five blocks, sophomore
Janine Patora (Salt Point/Arlington) had seven kills, four blocks and seven digs, and sophomore
Amanda May (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) finished with seven kills and two blocks.
Junior
Liz Roberts (Island Park/West Hempstead) averaged more than 11 assists per set (34 total), led the team with 12 digs and added two blocks. Junior
Melanie McGuirk (Lido Beach/Kellenberg) added 11 digs.
Oneonta (18-14), the fourth seed, was led by Jill Darpino's eight kills, along with seven kills each by Paige Carpluk and Kristen Polan. Erika Corbin ended with five blocks and Allyson Coniglione had 16 digs.
Cortland finished with a .235 team attack percentage (42 kills, 15 errors in 115 attempts) and held Oneonta to a negative .008 percentage (29 kills, 30 errors in 118 attempts).
Trailing 24-20 in the first set, Cortland scored five straight points to take the lead. The first two came on kills by May and Courtney Silberer and the third on an attack error. At 24-23, Patora's diving dig saves what would have been the clinching point for Oneonta, and an Oneonta error later in that rally tied the score.
Oneonta scored twice to take a 26-25 lead, but Cortland escaped that set point after an Oneonta attack error. Cortland then gave away a point after a miscommunication on a set to fall behind 27-26, but two Oneonta attack errors gave Cortland the lead and a block by Czeczotka and Courtney Silberer ended the set.
Cortland dominated the final two sets. The Red Dragons used a 10-4 run to turn an 11-8 lead into a 21-12 advantage in the second. In the third, Cortland was holding on to a 16-12 lead before tallying five straight points to go up 21-12. Oneonta scored the next two, but Cortland ended the match with a 4-1 run.
Tournament Web Page (includes photos, stats, interviews and more)