CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team secured the top seed for the SUNYAC tournament and at least a share of the league's regular-season title with a five-set win over visiting Geneseo, 27-25, 20-25, 25-13, 20-25, 15-11. Cortland is 6-0 in five-set matches this fall, with all six of the victories coming on Friday nights.
The Red Dragons improved to 19-3 overall and 8-0 in the SUNYAC. Geneseo is 11-11 overall and 6-2 in the conference. Cortland will host the SUNYAC semifinals and finals Nov. 10-11, marking the third straight year the two-time defending champion Red Dragons will be the top seed and "final four" host.
Cortland closes the SUNYAC regular-season schedule at home versus Brockport (6-2) Saturday at 1 p.m. Even with a loss, Cortland would still tie for first with New Paltz (8-1) in the league and the Red Dragons have the head-to-head tiebreaker versus the Hawks.
Alexa Guedez (Mamaroneck/Rye Neck) and
Anna Pilkey (Ballston Spa) led Cortland versus Geneseo with 14 kills apiece.
Lexy Bloss (York, PA/Dallastown Area) and
Allie Sturgess (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) each recorded 12 kills.
Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) and
Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) ended with 27 and 20 assists, respectively.
Pilkey led the team with 28 digs, followed by Sturgess and
Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) with 20 apiece and Hinshaw with 10. Guedez totaled five blocks, while Bloss and
Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) had three each. Wittman served three aces and Sturgess and Martens finished with two apiece.
Sommer Madigan and Linda Rossi paced Geneseo with 13 kills each. Jenna Garvey had 17 assists and Cecilia Dignan ended with 33 digs, followed by Madison Popielski with 18 and Rossi with 17. Alisiana Muscoreil led the team with six blocks.
Cortland trailed 21-16 in the first set before closing to within one at 22-21 and 23-22. Geneseo took a 24-22 lead after a Julia Wallace kill, but Cortland fought off two set points on kills by Bloss and Sturgess. Another Bloss kill put the Red Dragons up 25-24, but the Knights tied it on a block by Wallace and Muscoreil. Cortland scored the final two points to win the set on kills by Bloss and Pirrera.
The second set was tied 10 times and featured eight lead changes. Cortland reduced a 20-14 deficit to 20-18 before the guests scored seven of the final nine points, capped by a Muscoreil kill. Cortland dominated most of the third set, pushing a 12-6 lead to 20-6 on a run that included three Sturgess kills.
Cortland took a 7-0 lead in the fourth set, but Geneseo fought back and eventually took a 15-14 lead on a Madigan kill. Cortland trailed 19-18 after a block by Bloss and Sturgess, but Geneseo rattled off six of the final eight points to force the fifth set. In the fifth, Cortland trailed only once at 1-0 before scoring three straight and never relinquishing the lead. Down 11-6, Geneseo called timeout and then scored three straight to cut its deficit to 11-9, but two errors by the Knights, the second on a Bloss solo block, made it 13-9, and Sturgess' kill extended the lead to 14-9. Geneseo scored twice before Cortland ended it on a Bloss kill.
