WASHINGTON, D.C. – Cortland split its opening two matches at the Gallaudet University Worthington Classic women's volleyball tournament, bouncing back from a three-set loss to Marymount to defeat the host Bison in four sets.
Cortland (16-5) will complete pool play Saturday versus Penn St. Abington at 10 a.m. and then will face a team from the other pool in a placement match at either 2 or 4 p.m.
Marymount (7-7 after Friday's action) defeated Cortland, 25-13, 25-22, 25-20. The Saints used a 10-0 run to take a 20-10 lead in the first set, then pulled away from an 18-18 tie in the second set with a 7-4 ending run. Cortland was within 21-20 in the third set, but Marymount scored the final four points.
Maya Owens (Nyack) led Cortland with nine kills and no errors in 24 attempts for a .375 attack percentage.
Hannah Southcott (Princeton, WV) had eight kills and seven digs.
Gabby Fernandes (Islip) paced the Red Dragons with 11 digs and
Bridgette Moran (Massapequa Park/St. John the Baptist) finished with four blocks.
Mykael Johnson led Marymount with 16 kills and Maggie Viniard had 39 assists.
Cortland knocked off Gallaudet in four sets, 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 25-21 behind 15 kills from Southcott (one error in 38 attempts for a .368 attack percentage) and 11 kills by
Nadia Moore (Durham, NC/Durham School of the Arts). Moran and Owens each added nine kills.
Gabby Amelio (Pine Bush) served five aces and dished out a team-high 25 assists, followed by
Megan McMahon (Ballston Spa) with 17 assists.
Southcott and
Carly Haegele (Commack) led the Red Dragons with 19 digs each, with Haegele also adding three aces. Fernandes had 16 digs and McMahon ended with 12.
Karita Lewis totaled 16 kills and Elina Rubinshteyn and Cassidy Perry finished with 10 kills each for Gallaudet (4-14). Demi Bingham distributed 39 assists and Mia Upchurch had 36 digs.
Cortland trailed 12-9 in the first set but mounted an 8-0 run that featured all five of Amelio's aces along with kills by Moore, Southcott and
Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central). Gallaudet got no closer than three the rest of the set. The Bison took control of the second set with a 7-1 run that extended a 15-11 lead to 22-12.
Cortland trailed 17-14 in the third but rallied to go up 21-18.
Olivia Doorley (Pearl River) had two kills during that key stretch. Gallaudet came back to tie the set at 21, but Cortland scored the next two on a service error and a Southcott kill. Perry's kill cut Cortland's lead to one, and the teams traded points on kills by Moore for Cortland and Lewis for the hosts. Southcott put down a kill to end the set.
The Red Dragons also had to rally for the win in the fourth set. Gallaudet led 18-12 before Cortland strung together a 7-1 run to tie things at 19. Moran sparked that run with two kills and a solo block. The teams were also tied at 20 and 21 before Cortland scored the match's final four points, starting with a kill by Moran followed by three straight kills from Moore.
