MIDDLEBURY, VT. - The Cortland women's volleyball team found itself trailing two sets to zero in both of its matches Saturday during a tri-match at Middlebury College. The Red Dragons nearly rallied the first time before falling to Middlebury in five sets, but Cortland was able to complete its second comeback attempt for a 3-2 win over Colby-Sawyer College.

Cortland is now 6-8 on the season, including a 2-5 record in five-set matches. The Red Dragons will open SUNYAC play with three matches, one Friday and two Saturday, next weekend at Oneonta.

Middlebury (5-2), which defeated Colby-Sawyer to end Saturday's play, defeated Cortland 25-18, 25-16, 22-25, 22-25, 15-13. Cortland was led by freshman Lindsay Kirk (Lake Grove/Sachem North) with 12 kills and three blocks. Junior Samantha Czeczotka (Elwood/John H. Glenn) finished with 11 kills and two aces and junior Melanie McGuirk (Lido Beach/Kellenberg) had 16 digs.

Junior Vanessa Carmesin (Leverkusen, Germany/Landrat-Lucas Gymnasium) finished with 25 assists in four sets and junior Liz Roberts (Island Park/West Hempstead) had 14 assists in two sets.

Becca Raffel led Middlebury with 20 kills and Isabel Sessions ended with 16 kills.

Cortland then rallied past Colby-Sawyer (2-12) in five sets, 24-26, 18-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-11 behind Czeczotka's 15 kills and Kirk's 10 kills. Roberts distributed 34 assists and Carmesin added 11 assists, with Carmesin also serving four aces.

Freshman Alexandra Graff (Apex, NC) was Cortland's defensive leader with 18 digs, followed by McGuirk and sophomore Janine Patora (Salt Point/Arlington) with 17 digs each. McGuirk and freshman Tracy Singleton (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) each had two aces and sophomores Courtney Silberer (Centereach) and Nicole Silberer (Centereach) totaled eight and seven kills, respectively.

Colby-Sawyer was led by Kelsey McCulley's 17 kills and Gabrielle Rodriguez's 15 kills. Laura Smolinski finished with 34 assists and 20 digs.