CORTLAND, N.Y. - Cortland overcame a 2-1 set margin, including a 4-1 score deficit in the final set, and the Red Dragons defeated Wells College in a non-league women's volleyball match. Cortland won by set scores of 25-16, 22-25, 19-25, 25-18 and 15-8.

Junior Amanda May (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) led the Red Dragons (9-7) with 14 kills and just one error in 33 attempts for a .394 attack percentage. Junior Courtney Silberer (Centereach) registered a team-high 16 kills, a .275 attack percentage and 17 digs, and junior Deja Smith (Suffern) ended with nine kills and a .238 attack percentage.

Junior Sarah Piacentini (Webster/Webster Schroeder) totaled 36 assists and 14 digs and junior Valerie Fischer (Williston Park/Mineola) added eight kills and 15 digs. Fischer and May shared the team lead with three blocks apiece. Senior Samantha Czeczotka (Elwood/John H. Glenn) served four aces and amassed 13 digs, and sophomore Alexandra Graff (Apex, NC) led the team with 27 digs.

Wells (9-5) was led by Olyvia Brazier and Jackie Allen with 10 kills each and Anuhea Leite-Ah Yo with nine kills. Eliza Schwab finished with 31 assists, Brazier served three aces, and Leite-Ah Yo led the team with 30 digs, followed by Nadine Pershyn with 20 and Allen with 16.

Cortland cruised to a 23-8 lead in the opening set and withstood a brief Wells rally to within 23-15 before posting the 25-16 win. The Red Dragons led 14-10 and 18-15 in the second set, but the Express scored six straight points, five on Cortland errors, and took a 21-18 lead. Cortland eventually tied the set at 22-22 on three straight kills by Nicole Silberer (Centereach), May and Fischer, but Wells answered with an Allen kill, then finished the set on points resulting from two Cortland errors.

Wells led 9-3 to start the third set after trailing 2-0 and the Express never relinquished that lead. The Red Dragons did draw as close as 19-18, but kills by Brazier and Allen, a Cortland error, a Brazier ace and another Cortland misplay put Wells up 24-18 on the way to a 25-19 victory. Cortland trailed 14-11 in the fourth set before mounting a decisive 9-2 run that featured three kills and an ace by Fischer. Wells scored the next two points, but Cortland finished the set with five straight points that included kills by Nadia Moore (Durham, NC/Durham School of the Arts) and May and a Czeczotka ace.

Wells grabbed its early lead in the fifth set on an Amanda Springer kill, a Schwab ace, a Cortland error, and an Allen kill. The Red Dragons scored five of the next six points, however, with three coming on kills by C. Silberer, Smith and Fischer. Wells tied the set at 6-6, but Cortland put things away with an 8-1 run that extended the lead to 14-7. The streak featured two Smith kills, one kill by Moore, four Wells errors, and a Graff ace. Following a Wells point, Moore ended the match with a kill.

Cortland will compete at the Skidmore Invitational Friday and Saturday.