NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team claimed its second straight SUNYAC regular-season title after rallying from a two-set deficit to defeat host New Paltz in the conference regular-season finale for both teams. New Paltz won the first two sets, 25-21 and 25-17, but Cortland came back to win the next three, 25-10, 25-23 and 15-10.

Cortland (17-4, 9-0 SUNYAC) will be the top seed in the six-team SUNYAC postseason tournament. The Red Dragons have finished 9-0 in the league each of the last two seasons. Cortland earns a bye into the semifinals and will host the league "final four" Nov. 4-5. Cortland will face either fourth-seeded Geneseo or fifth-seeded Oswego in the semifinals. New Paltz (18-3, 7-2 SUNYAC) had a 10-match winning streak snapped. The Hawks will be the third seed and will host sixth-seeded Buffalo State in the first round Nov. 1, with that winner facing Brockport in the semifinals at Cortland. 
 
Zoe Staats (Buchanan/Hendrick Hudson) led Cortland with 17 kills. Allie Sturgess (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) and Giovanna Rossi (Nichols/Tioga Central) each had 13 kills. Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) led the Red Dragons with four aces and 23 digs, Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) finished with 29 assists, three aces, and eight digs and Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) had three blocks and two aces. Sturgess and Carly Haegele (Commack) each finished with 11 digs, with Haegele adding two aces. 
 
Mackenzie Williams led New Paltz with 20 kills, Victoria Konicki had 11 kills and five blocks, and Letisha Perez totaled eight kills and seven blocks, three solo. Cate DiGiacomo registered 40 assists and 17 digs and Mia Waddell had 23 digs. 
 
Both teams were similar offensively in the match – Cortland with a .195 team attack percentage and New Paltz at .172. Cortland recorded a .360 percentage in the third set and hit at a .353 clip (seven kills, one error in 17 attempts) in the fifth set. New Paltz hit better than .200 in three sets and .190 in the fifth, but was a minus-.115 in the third. 
 
Cortland led 19-16 in the first before the Hawks closed the set on a 9-2 run. The Hawks jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the second set and never trailed, while Cortland grabbed an 11-1 lead in the third set and was never behind. The wild fourth set, however, featured 20 ties and 10 lead changes, and neither team held more than a two-point lead the entire set. 
 
The fifth set was tied three times, the last at 5-5. Cortland led 10-8 before scoring four of the next five points, including kills by Sturgess and Emma Reilly (Massapequa Park). New Paltz fought off one match point on a Williams kill before Cortland closed the match on a service error.