OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team opened its SUNYAC schedule with a 25-17, 25-21, 25-17 victory at Oswego.
Maya Owens (Nyack) led the Red Dragons (6-2, 1-0 SUNYAC) with 12 kills and a .526 attack percentage in 19 attempts. She committed only two attack errors.
Hannah Southcott (Princeton, WV) finished with 10 kills and one error in 27 attempts for a .333 attack percentage,
Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) added eight kills, and
Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) led the Red Dragons with 26 assists.
Carly Haegele (Commack) paced Cortland with 21 digs, followed by Hinshaw with seven and Southcott with six.
Cara Simplicio led Oswego (4-5, 0-1 SUNYAC) with eight kills and 11 digs. Emma Fiorentine and Sydney Chiffriller each had six kills, McKenna Corbin handed out 11 assists, and Skylar Bechard matched Simplicio with 11 digs.
Cortland finished the match with a .192 team attack percentage, bolstered by a .250 mark in the third set. Oswego struggled in the first set with a .000 attack percentage and finished the match at .096.
In the opening set, Cortland trailed 4-1 early before tying the set at 4-all. Leading 11-10, Cortland went on a 7-2 run to take an 18-12 lead. Owens had three kills during that stretch. The lead remained at five points or greater from that point.
The second set was tied at 15-15 before a Van Pelt block and a Southcott kill put Cortland up by two. The Red Dragon lead was just 19-18 before they went on a three-point run on kills by Southcott and Owens and an Oswego error. The Lakers got back to within one at 22-21 on a Chiffriller kill, but Cortland scored the last three points on a service error, a Van Pelt kill, and an Oswego attack error.
The crucial portion of the third set was a 6-0 Cortland streak that broke a 13-13 tie. Van Pelt had four kills to fuel that run, and Oswego never threatened the rest of the way.
Cortland travels to the Capital District this weekend for three matches – Friday at Russell Sage, and Saturday versus Skidmore and Union, both at Union.
