The Cortland women's volleyball team won its 13th consecutive match and remained in first place in the SUNYAC standings with a 25-15, 25-13, 25-9 victory over visiting Oneonta on Senior Day.
Prior to the match, Cortland honored its six seniors –
Maya Owens (Nyack),
Dani Bleiweiss (Old Brookville/North Shore),
Camryn Anderson (Bronx/Cardinal Spellman),
Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central),
Caterina Mangogna (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) and
Hannah Southcott (Princeton, WV).
Cortland (18-2, 7-0 SUNYAC) has clinched at least second place in the SUNYAC regular-season standings with two matches remaining. The Red Dragons can secure the top spot with a victory either next Friday at Plattsburgh or Saturday at Potsdam. The top two seeds earn byes into the SUNYAC tournament semifinals, and the top seed will host the conference's two semifinal matches and the league championship match Nov. 5-6.
Cortland's 13-match win streak is its longest since the 2012 Red Dragon squad opened the season with 17 straight wins.
Southcott led Cortland with 16 kills and just one error in 30 attempts for a .500 attack percentage, and she also tallied two aces, two blocks and five digs. Van Pelt had 10 kills with no errors in 17 swings for a .588 hitting percentage. Owens, Mangogna and
Alexa Guedez (Rye/Rye Neck) each added three kills.
Olivia Doorley (Pearl River) totaled 13 digs and three aces and
Carly Haegele (Commack) had 10 digs and four aces.
Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) led the team with 18 assists, followed by
Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) with 11 assists, with Wittman adding five digs.
Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) ended with three blocks.
Oneonta (4-15, 3-4 SUNYAC) was led by Ashanti Davis with six kills and four blocks. Isabella Fabrizio had eight digs and Sophia Gerace finished with nine assists.
Cortland finished with a .360 team attack percentage, putting down 41 kills with nine errors in 89 attempts, while holding the guests to a .022 percentage. Cortland hit .303 in the first set, .308 in the second and .467 (15 kills, one error, 30 attempts) in the third.
Cortland took a 2-1 lead in the first set and never trailed again, and the Red Dragons led from start to finish in each of the next two sets.
Cortland hosts RIT next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a non-league match.