POTSDAM and CANTON, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team finished 3-0 at the North Country Challenge after defeating Keuka in four sets, in a match played at Clarkson, followed by a thrilling five-set win at St. Lawrence.
Cortland, ranked second in the NCAA Division III Region Three rankings, completed the regular season with a 24-3 record. The Red Dragons will be the top seed in next week's SUNYAC postseason tournament and will host the semifinals and finals Nov. 5-6. Cortland will play Friday in the semifinals against the winner of Tuesday's New Paltz/Fredonia first-round match.
Cortland dropped the first set versus Keuka, 25-18, but won the next three sets, 25-17, 25-17, 25-15.
Olivia Doorley (Pearl River) and
Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) led the Red Dragons with 11 kills apiece, followed by
Caterina Mangogna (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) with 10 kills. Doorley added three aces and 11 digs,
Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) rang up five aces, 27 assists and 12 digs, and
Carly Haegele (Commack) had a team-high 20 digs.
Also for the Red Dragons,
Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) recorded a career-high seven kills and chipped in with three blocks.
Alexa Guedez (Rye/Rye Neck) led Cortland with five blocks and
Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) finished with 10 digs.
Tionna Moss paced Keuka (9-16) with nine kills and Lauren Kuipers had 21 digs.
Keuka scored the final six points of the first set to take the 25-18 win. Cortland took control early in the second set, leading 11-4 and never really being threatened. The third set was tighter, with the scored tied 13-13 before Cortland started pulling away with a 7-1 run. The Red Dragons started the fourth set with an amazing 14 straight points with Hinshaw serving. Four of her five aces came during the run, and lead grew to 20-3 before the Wolves made things respectable with a 9-1 streak that cut Cortland's lead to 21-12.
Cortland finished the day with a 25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 25-12, 15-13 win over St. Lawrence, marking the third time in four matches that the Red Dragons rallied from a 2-1 deficit for a victory. Doorley led the team with 16 kills for her third straight match in double figures. Mangogna totaled 13 kills, eclipsing her previous career high of 10 set earlier in the day versus Keuka, and Van Pelt had 11 kills.
Cortland finished with 14 team blocks. Guedez led the squad with eight assisted blocks, and also had eight kills. Fisk had six total blocks, two solo, and Mangogna recorded five block assists. Hinshaw dished out 30 assists and picked up nine digs, and Haegele amassed 16 digs and three aces.
Natalie Piper and Annika Kreppein led the hosts Saints (16-10) with 18 and 15 kills, respectively. Piper also led St. Lawrence with 19 digs and four aces. Allie Posnick totaled 34 assists.
Cortland squeaked out a win in the first set that featured 14 ties and seven lead changes, while the Saints slowly pulled away from a 12-12 tie in the second. Cortland trailed 23-20 in the third before tying the score at 23-23, but St. Lawrence won the set after Cortland service and attack errors. A decisive 9-1 run by Cortland in the fourth set turned a 10-6 lead into a comfortable 19-7 margin.
The fifth set featured eight ties and four lead changes. Cortland took a 10-9 lead after a block by Guedez and Mangogna, but following a St. Lawrence timeout the Saints scored three straight, including a kill and ace by Piper, to go up 12-10.
Cortland called timeout then scored two points to tie it on a Guedez kill and a St. Lawrence error. The Saints regained the lead at 13-12 on a Cortland error, but the Red Dragons finished the match with three straight points – a kill by Van Pelt to tie it, a St. Lawrence error to put Cortland ahead, and a Haegele match-ending ace.
