HUNTINGDON, PA. – The Cortland women's volleyball season came to a close with a three-set loss at nationally second-ranked Juniata College in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament.
Juniata (30-1) won 25-13, 25-10, 25-14 and will play Christopher Newport in the third round Saturday. Cortland, which was making its second straight NCAA playoff appearance, finishes the season 22-6 and tied for 17th place nationally.
Allie Sturgess (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) led Cortland with five kills and
Giovanna Rossi (Nicols/Tioga) had four kills.
Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) had eight assists,
Carly Haegele (Commack) led the team with eight digs, and
Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) had seven digs and two aces.
Lily Podolan led the host Eagles with 12 kills and no errors in 18 attempts. Audrey Muth had nine kills and one error in 16 attempts and Olivia Foley handed out 37 assists. Mackenzie Coley led the team with eight blocks.
Juniata finished the night with a .489 attack percentage (50 kills, 7 errors in 88 attempts), while Cortland was held to a .012 attack percentage with 17 kills and 16 errors in 82 attempts. Cortland was tied 6-6 in the first set before Juniata went on an 8-2 run. The Eagles led 9-1 to start the second set and were never threatened. Cortland was within 8-6 in the third set before Juniata took control with a 7-2 run to go up 15-8.
UPDATE (11/12/22): Following the completion of the regional, Rossi was named to the regional all-tournament team.
