BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team advanced to the SUNYAC tournament championship match for the fourth straight season with a three-set semifinal win over Fredonia at the Buffalo State Sports Arena. The Red Dragons (32-5), ranked 17th nationally, won by set scores of 25-20, 25-16 and 25-18.

Cortland, the SUNYAC Eastern Division champion, will face West champion and Buffalo State (26-7) in Sunday's finals at noon. The host Bengals swept New Paltz in Saturday's first semifinal match. Cortland will be searching for their 19th SUNYAC title and third in a row. Buffalo State will be making its second-ever SUNYAC finals appearance and first since losing to Cortland in 1997.

Senior Ashley Coyle (Mt. Hope/Minisink Valley) led Cortland with 12 kills and added eight digs in the win over Fredonia. Junior Ava Hintz (East Aurora) finished with seven kills and five blocks, four solo, and senior Natalie Zacpal (Islip) added six kills and five blocks. Hintz and Zacpal registered attack percentages of .385 and .357, respectively.

Senior Kristen Guercio (Smithtown/Smithtown East) dished out 23 assists and also tallied two aces and seven digs. Junior Krissy Silk (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) led the Red Dragons with 16 digs.

Fredonia (19-16) was led by Jess DeChristopher's seven kills and Paula Rein's six kills. Kelly Edinger recorded 19 assists. The Blue Devils were held to just a .010 team attack percentage (25 kills, 24 errors in 104 attempts).

The Blue Devils scored four straight points to tie the opening set at 17-17, but Cortland scored the next three points on its way to the win. The Red Dragons then opened a 15-9 lead in the second set and tallied three straight points – the longest run by either team during the set – to take a 22-14 lead. Cortland used an early 7-0 run to grab a 9-4 lead in the third set and increased its advantage to 18-8 on its way to the win.