CORTLAND, N.Y. – Hannah Southcott (Princeton, WV) finished with a career-high 23 kills and added a season-high 18 digs as Cortland defeated visiting Geneseo, 25-23, 25-14, 24-26, 25-13 to remain unbeaten in SUNYAC play.  
The Red Dragons won their eighth straight match to improve to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in league play. Geneseo, the 2019 SUNYAC regular-season champion, suffered its first league loss of the season and is now 7-8 overall and 2-1 in the conference. 
 
Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) posted 14 kills, 10 digs and two aces and Maya Owens (Nyack) totaled six kills. Alexa Guedez (Rye/Rye Neck) finished the match with nine blocks – four solo and five assisted – as part of Cortland's 12 team blocks in the match, and Carly Haegele (Commack) ended with a season-best 30 digs. 
 
Also for the Red Dragons, Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) had 24 assists and seven digs, Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) added 16 assists and eight digs, Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) finished with three aces and three blocks, and Olivia Doorley (Pearl River) had nine digs. 
 
Isabella Imbo led Geneseo with 12 kills, followed by Linda Rossi with nine kills. Morgan Michalski handed out 24 assists, while Emily Haber and Rossi led the team with 18 and 16 digs, respectively. Jackie Borland registered seven kills and six assisted blocks. 
 
Cortland trailed 9-3 in the first set but eventually clawed back to tie the score at 15-15 on a Wittman ace. However, the Red Dragons still faced a 22-19 deficit before scoring four straight points – the first two on kills by Southcott and Owens, followed by a Geneseo error and a Van Pelt kill. Imbo's kill tied the set at 23-23, but a Knights' attack error and a kill by Owens gave Cortland the win. 
 
In the second set, Cortland was clinging to an 11-10 lead before mounting an 11-2 run to take control. Southcott posted three kills and an assisted block during that string. Cortland led 23-21 in the third set, two points away from completing a sweep, but Geneseo fought back after an error and a Rossi kill to tie the score. An error gave Geneseo the lead, and Cortland briefly fought off set point on a Van Pelt kill before the Knights closed the set on a Rossi kill and a Cortland error. 
 
With the fourth set tied at 9-9, Cortland rattled off seven straight points, and 10 of 11, and never looked back. That run was fueled by three kills and an ace from Van Pelt and two kills by Southcott. 
 
Cortland will host Misericordia University in a non-league match Wednesday at 7 p.m.