POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball season came to a close as the top-seeded and nationally 17th-ranked Red Dragons fell in three sets to fourth-seeded New Paltz in the second round of the eight-team NCAA Div. III regionals, hosted by Clarkson University. The Hawks, who improve to 34-8, defeated Cortland (34-6) by set scores of 25-19, 25-13 and 25-21. Cortland was making its 24th NCAA tournament appearance and finishes tied for 17th in the national tournament.

Cortland senior setter Kristen Guercio (Smithtown/Smithtown East) finished the match with 31 assists. She finishes her career with 6,041 assists and is the ninth player in NCAA Div. III history to reach 6,000 career assists. (It was mistakenly reported that Guercio had not reached 6,000 prior to this match, but she actually surpassed the 6,000 level during Cortland's NCAA first-round win vs. Colby-Sawyer Friday.)

Senior Ashley Coyle (Mt. Hope/Minisink Valley) led the Red Dragons with 12 kills and 13 digs. She completes her career with 1,803 kills, ranked second in school history, and 1,778 digs, ranked fourth in school history. Michelle Gaufman is the school kill leader with 1,822 from 2006-09 and Missy Burke is the career digs leader with 1,945 from 1995-98.

Senior Natalie Zacpal (Islip) recorded eight kills and one error in 18 attempts for a .389 attack percentage. Junior Ava Hintz (East Aurora) recorded six kills and junior Krissy Silk (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) finished with 12 digs.

Dana Vosilla led New Paltz with 11 kills and a .526 attack percentage (one error in 19 attempts). Michelle Jacobson had 10 kills and three aces and Marissa King totaled 30 assists.

Cortland led 14-10 in the first set after kills by Zacpal and Coyle, and still held an 18-15 advantage on an ace by Silk. New Paltz, however, finished the set on a 10-1 run that featured four Cortland errors and ended with three straight Jacobson aces.

The Hawks led 8-2 to start the second set and put the set away with a 6-0 run that turned a 17-11 lead into a 23-11 advantage. The third set featured eight ties, the last at 15-15 after a kill by junior Aubrey Barrett (Liverpool).

New Paltz scored the next four points on a service error, kills by Becca Borquist and Alex Bizub, and a Cortland attack error. Cortland fought back to tie the set at 19-19 on three New Paltz errors and a Coyle kill. With New Paltz up 21-20, the Hawks tallied three straight points on a Cortland service error, a Vosilla kill and a Katy Herbst ace. The Red Dragons fought off one match point with a kill by Coyle before a Vosilla kill ended the contest.

(NOTE – Nov. 13:  Ashley Coyle was named to the regional all-tournament team at the completion of the regional.)