NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Sam Parente recorded 21 kills as Buffalo State defeated Cortland, 3-1, in the quarterfinal round of the SUNYAC Women's Volleyball tournament at New Paltz.
The defending champion and sixth-seeded Bengals improved to 25-10 and will face Fredonia in Saturday's semifinals, while third-seeded Cortland ends the season with a 17-18 record. Buffalo State snapped Cortland's streak of 30 straight SUNYAC semifinal appearances, which dated back to the inaugural league tournament in 1984.
Freshman
Janine Patora (Salt Point/Arlington) led Cortland with 16 kills and a .182 attack percentage. She also had 13 digs and three blocks. Senior
Mary Kelly (Guilderland) and junior
Sydney Hayward (Trumansburg) each totaled eight kills, with Kelly adding two blocks and Hayward three aces.
Sophomore
Liz Roberts (Island Park/West Hempstead) finished with 36 assists, eight digs and three blocks. Freshman
Ashley Ruggiero (Smithtown/Smithtown East) led the team with 28 digs, followed by sophomore
Melanie McGuirk (Lido Beach/Kellenberg) with 18 digs, and freshman
Jessie Allen (Syracuse/West Genesee) paced the team with four blocks.
Parente finished with a .281 attack percentage for the Bengals, while Kayla Pyc had 11 kills and a .276 attack percentage. Jennifer Cecchettini totaled 29 assists, 13 digs and two aces. Rachelle Kelchlin added a team-high 28 digs and Jessica Crooks had five blocks.
Cortland pulled away from an 11-11 tie in the opening set with a 7-1 run and cruised to the victory. Buffalo State took control midway through the second set and was never threatened.
In the third set, the score was tied 13-13 when Cortland apparently took the lead on a long Buffalo State attack, only to have the officials rule that the ball tipped off a Cortland blocker. That point started a 5-0 Bengals' run to give them an 18-13 lead and the Red Dragons never recovered. Cortland grabbed a 5-1 lead in the fourth set, but the Bengals scored nine of the next 10 points to go up 10-6. With the score 13-9, Buffalo State recorded five straight points and led by at least six the rest of the way.
