CORTLAND, N.Y. – The nationally 11th-ranked Cortland women's volleyball team broke open two tight sets and dominated the third set in sweeping Ithaca College, 25-12, 25-19 and 25-12 Tuesday night in non-conference action Tuesday night at Corey Gymnasium. The Red Dragons improved to 24-2 with the win, while the Bombers fell to 8-9.

Senior Ashley Coyle (Mt. Hope/Minisink Valley) led Cortland with 12 kills and a .579 attack percentage. Junior Ava Hintz (East Aurora) hit .357 with eight kills and recorded four service aces. Senior setter Kristen Guercio (Smithtown/Smithtown East) registered 30 assists, junior Krissy Silk (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) had 12 digs and senior Natalie Zacpal (Islip) contributed four kills and three blocks.

Cortland broke open a tight first set, pulling away from a 7-6 advantage by scoring eight of the next nine points for a 15-7 lead. Coyle had three kills and Hintz two during the run. The Red Dragons pushed their lead to 20-8 before Ithaca cut the lead to 21-12. Cortland, however, closed out the set with four consecutive points highlighted by two Zacpal blocks.

The second set began similar to the first as the teams traded points that had the score at 8-8. Cortland scored the next four points for a 12-8 lead and eventually built a 20-10 advantage on the strength of two four-point runs fueled by five Coyle kills. The Bombers responded by winning nine of the next 10 points, helped by four Cortland errors, to close to within 21-19 forcing a Red Dragon timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Cortland closed the set with four points in a row for the 25-19 win.

The Red Dragons took control of the third set early, racing out to a 6-0 lead helped by three Ithaca errors. The Bombers won three of the next four points, two from kills by senior Marissa Weil (Corning/Corning West), to make it 7-3, but Cortland took nine of the next 10 points to open up a 16-4 lead. Ithaca cut the lead to 20-11 but three straight Red Dragon points made it 23-11. After a Cortland service error, back-to-back kills by sophomores Kelly Knauerhase (Cortland) and Mary Kelly (Guilderland) closed out the match.