Cortland rallied from being down two sets to one and fought off three match points in the fifth set as the Red Dragons defeated visiting Ithaca, 28-26, 21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 20-18 in a non-league battle of regionally ranked women's volleyball teams.

Cortland (21-3) is ranked second in the latest NCAA Division III Region 3 rankings while Ithaca (14-11) is ranked fifth. The Red Dragons avenged a season-opening five-set loss at Ithaca and earned their first win over the Bombers since the 2013 season. 
 
Cortland's 20-18 win in the fifth set is tied for the second-longest fifth set by the Red Dragons since the NCAA adopted rally scoring in 2001. Cortland lost 25-23 in the fifth set at Le Moyne in 2002 and beat Western Connecticut State 20-18 in the fifth set in 2003. 
 
Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) and Hannah Southcott (Princeton, WV) led Cortland with 23 kills apiece. Van Pelt set a career mark with that effort, while Southcott tied her previous career best. Carly Haegele (Commack) finished with 17 digs and surpassed the career 1,000-dig mark in just her second season (currently at 1,004, including 427 this year). 
 
Maya Owens (Nyack) and Alexa Guedez (Rye/Rye Neck) added eight kills apiece in the victory. Guedez led the Red Dragons with four blocks, two solo. Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) and Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) finished with 33 and 25 assists, respectively. Southcott posted 13 digs, with Wittman and Olivia Doorley (Pearl River) adding nine apiece and Hinshaw finishing with eight. 
 
Three Ithaca players finished with double-figure kills. Jamie Koopman led the Bombers with 19 kills, along with seven assisted blocks. Faith Sabatier had 14 kills and five blocks, one solo, and Jaelyn Hershberger finished with 11 kills. Paris Buckner totaled nine kills and a team-high nine blocks, Jennifer Pitts had seven kills and six blocks, and Aleka Darko totaled seven kills and four blocks. Peyton Miller handed out 35 assists, while Laura Severance added 26 assists and three aces. Jordyn Lyn Hayashi paced Ithaca with 25 digs. 
 
Cortland trailed 23-18 in the first set before fighting back for the win. The Red Dragons tied it with a 5-0 run that included two Guedez blocks, then erased a pair of Ithaca set points at 24-23 and 25-24 on kills by Owens and Southcott. Ithaca fended off a set point on a Buckner kill to tie it at 26-26, but Cortland closed the set with kills by Guedez and Van Pelt. 
 
Ithaca took a 7-1 lead to start the second set and never trailed, and the Bombers pulled away from a 14-14 tie in the third set with a 5-2 run to go up 19-16, with Cortland no closer than two points the rest of the way. 
 
The fourth set was tied at 22-22 after a Koopman kill, but Cortland won the final three points on two Southcott kills sandwiched around a Hinshaw ace. 
 
The fifth set featured an astounding 14 ties along with seven lead changes. The teams were knotted at every interval from 1-1 to 6-6 before Cortland rattled off four straight points on an error, kills by Caterina Mangogna (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor), Southcott and Guedez. Ithaca, however, fought back to tie the score at 11-11, and the teams traded points from that point until 18-18. 
 
Cortland had a match point at 14-13 thwarted by a Buckner kill, and an error gave the Bombers a 15-14 lead. After a service error, Ithaca again moved to match point at 16-15 on Sabatier's kill before two errors put Cortland back on top. Ithaca scored the next two points to go up 18-17. Owens put down a kill to tie the set, a Guedez block gave the Red Dragons the lead, and an Ithaca attack error closed out the two-plus hour match and gave Cortland the victory. 
 
Ithaca finished with a .251 attack percentage, and the Bombers' 17 team blocks help keep Cortland at a .220 hitting percentage for the night. The Red Dragons hit only .111 in their two set losses, but hit .289 in the first, .333 in the fourth and .219 in the fifth. 
 
Cortland wraps up the regular season this weekend at the North Country Challenge, co-hosted by Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The Red Dragons face Clarkson Friday at 7 p.m. and Keuka on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Clarkson, then head to St. Lawrence to face the Saints at 2:30 p.m.

Cortland will host the SUNYAC tournament semifinals and finals next weekend. The Red Dragons play either New Paltz or Fredonia in the semifinals Nov. 5 at 7 p.m., with Geneseo playing either Brockport or Buffalo State in the 4 p.m. match. The championship match is Nov. 6 at 4 p.m.