CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team, ranked 16th in the latest Div. III national poll, defeated visiting Elmira College in three sets in a non-league match, 25-16, 25-23, 25-20. The Red Dragons, now 29-3, won in their final regular-season home match of the year and have now won 18 straight home contests.

Elmira dropped to 17-11 with the loss. The Soaring Eagles are the last team to beat Cortland on its home court with a five-set victory in 2010.

Cortland's three seniors – setter Kristen Guercio (Smithtown/Smithtown East), outside hitter Ashley Coyle (Mt. Hope/Minisink Valley) and middle hitter Natalie Zacpal (Islip) – were honored prior to the match. Guercio finished with 32 assists and 10 digs while extending her school career record to 5,770 assists. Coyle had 12 kills and 15 digs and ranks third in school history with 1,714 career kills – 25 behind second place and 108 from the top spot. Zacpal had five kills and shared the team lead with five blocks. She leads the Red Dragons this fall with 112 blocks.

Also for Cortland, junior Ava Hintz (East Aurora) totaled eight kills and two blocks, freshman Kim Givelechian (Roslyn Heights/Herricks) had five kills and seven digs and junior Aubrey Barrett (Liverpool) finished with five blocks, 10 digs and four kills. Junior Krissy Silk (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) registered 12 digs.

Senior Sasha Zavadska (Bratislava, Slovakia/The British School) led Elmira with 16 kills. Junior Taryn Rumsey (Mansfield, PA) added seven kills and nine digs and senior Amanda Matson (Corning/Corning West) had four blocks and five kills.

Senior Molly Short (Sterling, CO) registered 28 assists and senior Francene Cicia (Sunderland, MA/Frontier Regional) served four aces. Junior Catherine Miller (Pittsburgh, PA/Penn Hills) led the team with 13 digs.

Cortland grabbed an early 5-0 lead in the first set and led by as many as 10 points at 21-11 and 22-12. The second set was tied at 12-12 after a Matson block, but Cortland scored four straight points on a service error, a Zacpal kill, an Elmira “out of rotation” error and a Barrett kill to take a 16-12 lead. The Red Dragons held a 23-17 advantage before the Soaring Eagles clawed back to within 23-21 on a run that featured two Cicia aces. After a Coyle kill, Elmira fought off two set points on kills by Matson and Zavadska before an error ended the set.

Elmira took a 3-0 lead to start the third set and held its last lead at 17-16 on Short ace. Cortland regained the lead on kills by Givelechian and Guercio, but Zavadska tied the score with a kill. The teams traded points on a Coyle kill and a Cortland service error and were tied at 19-19. Cortland, however, scored the next five points, including kills by Coyle and Zacpal, and tallied the match point two plays later on another Coyle kill.

Cortland will travel to play in the Christopher Newport Invitational in Newport News, Va., this Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26-27. The Red Dragons will be one of three ranked teams in the field along with the fourth-ranked host Captains and 17th-ranked Salisbury. Christopher Newport defeated Cortland in four sets in last year's NCAA Div. III quarterfinals.