CORTLAND, N.Y. - Cortland utilized a balanced offensive attack and hit .309 as a team as the Red Dragons won their home finale with a 3-0 sweep over St. John Fisher College. The match was part of Cortland's Dig Pink Rally, which included sales of t-shirts and ribbons in the days leading up to the contest that raised $1,000 for the
Side-Out Foundation and its mission of breast cancer research and support.
Cortland (17-15) rallied to win the first set, 26-24, and completed the sweep with 25-11 and 25-18 victories. The Red Dragons improved to 32-0 all-time against the Cardinals, who are now 14-15 on the season.
Sophomore
Janine Patora (Salt Point/Arlington) led Cortland with nine kills and three aces and added eight digs and two blocks. She finished with a .389 attack percentage. Sophomore
Amanda May (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) ended with eight kills and no errors in 17 attempts for a .471 attack percentage and served two aces.
Sophomore
Courtney Silberer (Centereach) finished with eight kills, a .286 attack percentage and a team-high four blocks. Junior
Samantha Czeczotka (Elwood/John H. Glenn) added seven kills, eight digs and two aces while hitting at a .312 clip, and sophomore
Nicole Silberer (Centereach) chipped in with six kills.
Junior
Liz Roberts (Island Park/West Hempstead) registered 36 assists for a 12 assist-per-set average and also had 10 digs and two aces. Junior
Melanie McGuirk (Lido Beach/Kellenberg) paced the team with 16 digs and sophomore
Sarah Piacentini (Webster/Webster Schroeder) finished with 11 digs and two aces.
Megan Miller led the Cardinals with eight kills and Anna Marcy had seven kills with a .300 attack percentage. Katie Mazierski totaled 22 digs and Meghan Stonebarger had 25 assists and two aces.
St. John Fisher turned a 12-9 deficit in the first set into a 15-12 lead. The Cardinals still led 17-14 before Cortland chipped away and eventually tied the set at 18-18 on a Patora aces. The set was tied five more times at each interval from 20-20 to 24-24 before Cortland scored the final two points on kills by Courtney Silberer and Patora.
Cortland dominated the second set. Leading 11-5, the Red Dragons mounted a 9-0 run that included two kills each by Courtney Silberer and Patora and two aces by Roberts to go up 20-5. The third set was 10 times, the last at 13-13, before Cortland scored eight of the next points to take a 21-15 lead. Fisher scored twice to cut its deficit to four, but the Red Dragons ended the night on a 4-1 run that was capped by a Czeczkotka match-ending kill.
Cortland will wrap up the regular season with three matches in Pennsylvania this weekend. Cortland will play at Susquehanna University Friday at 6 p.m., and the Red Dragons will face Alvernia at noon and Elizabethtown at 2 p.m. Saturday at Elizabethtown. Cortland will open SUNYAC Tournament play on Friday, Nov. 6, versus Oneonta at 7 p.m. at Brockport in a quarterfinal match.
