CORTLAND, N.Y. – The top-seeded Cortland women's volleyball team repeated as SUNYAC champion with a thrilling five-set win over second seed Brockport, 25-15, 26-28, 19-25, 25-21, 15-9, in the league's title match at Corey Gymnasium.
Cortland (21-5) won the 21st SUNYAC title in program history and earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs. The NCAA tournament field will be announced Monday at 1 p.m. at NCAA.com.
Tournament MVP
Allie Sturgess (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) led Cortland with career bests of 21 kills, 23 digs and three blocks. She was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates
Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) and
Emma Reilly (Massapequa Park/Massapequa), Brockport's Madalyn Bowen and Jordan Thompson, Geneseo's Linda Rossi and New Paltz's Mia Waddell.
Wittman dished out 23 assists and had 11 digs. Reilly led the Red Dragons with seven blocks, three solo.
Giovanna Rossi (Nichols/Tioga Central) finished with 10 kills,
Zoe Staats (Buchanan/Hendrick Hudson) registered nine kills and
Alexa Guedez (Rye/Rye Neck) had eight kills and three blocks.
Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) amassed 20 digs and
Carly Haegele (Commack) added 11 digs.
Thompson led Brockport (20-8) with 13 kills and added four blocks. Andrea Coyle also finished with 13 kills, Megan Loomis ended with 11 kills, Myah Frostclapp had 10 kills and five blocks and Bowen totaled 30 digs.
Cortland took a 4-0 lead in the first set and never trailed, with Sturgess leading with way with eight kills on 12 swings. Brockport led 23-18 in the second set before Cortland came back and eventually took a 25-24 lead on a block by Guedez and Rossi. Brockport, however, tied the set at both 25-25 and 26-26 and won after a Cortland service error and an attack error.
The Golden Eagles scored the first six points of the third set and never gave up the lead. The fourth set, like the second, featured seven ties and four lead changes. Cortland seemed in command with a 19-12 lead, but the Golden Eagles clawed back to within 21-20 before three straight Red Dragon points. Brockport fought off one set point before Staats' kill sent the match to a fifth set.
Cortland, which during the regular season rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a five-set win at Brockport, took control early in the fifth with a 6-1 lead. Brockport closed to within 6-3 and was still down by three at 10-7 but got no closer.
