CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland scored the first 18 points of the opening set and never trailed the entire evening in a 25-1, 25-16, 25-16 victory over visiting Potsdam.
The Red Dragons improved to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the SUNYAC with the victory. Potsdam, playing its league opener, is now 8-3 and 0-1.
The one point allowed in the opening set is the lowest total the Red Dragons have given up since winning the first set versus Brooklyn College, 25-1, in a three-set win on Sept. 1, 2014.
Cortland scored the first point of the night on a service error, followed by 17 straight during the serve of
Allie Sturgess (Stony Brook/Ward Melville). Sturgess recorded five of her nine aces in the match during that run. The second set was tied six times, the last at 13-13, before Cortland scored six straight to take control. The Red Dragons used a 6-2 run in the third to push an 11-7 lead to 17-9 and were never seriously threatened from that point.
Zoe Staats (Buchanan/Hendrick Hudson) led Cortland with eight kills and one error in 14 attempts (.500) along with four blocks.
Julia Pugliese (Wantagh) finished with a career-best seven kills, a .312 attack percentage, two aces and eight digs, and
Caterina Mangogna (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) also had seven kills.
Sturgess posted five kills and nine digs along with her nine aces.
Emma Reilly (Massapequa Park) finished with five kills and no errors in nine attempts (.556) and led the team with five blocks.
Alexa Guedez (Rye/Rye Neck) added five kills and a .308 attack percentage,
Carly Haegele (Commack) had 15 digs and two aces,
Megan McMahon (Ballston Spa) dished out 19 assists and
Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) had 16 assists.
Mikayla Myers led Potsdam with six kills and no errors in 13 attempts (.462). Colleen Murphy totaled 10 assists.
Cortland hit .299 as a team, including .643 (nine kills, no errors in 14 attempts) in the opening set. Potsdam was held to a .000 attack percentage as the Bears ended with 15 kills and 15 errors.
Cortland hosts Plattsburgh Saturday at 1 p.m. in a league match.
