CORTLAND, N.Y. – The top-seeded Cortland women's volleyball team claimed its third straight State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championship with a 28-26, 25-8, 25-17 win over second-seeded New Paltz in the league's title match at Corey Gymnasium.
Cortland (25-3) has earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament with its 22nd league title. The NCAA tournament field will be announced Monday at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Tournament MVP
Anna Pilkey (Ballston Spa) led with Cortland with 10 kills and a .364 attack percentage and was second on the team with 14 digs. She was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates
Lexy Bloss (York, PA/Dallastown Area) and
Mikenzie Martens (Carthage), along with New Paltz's Mackenzie Williams and Cate DiGiacomo, Brockport's Jordan Thompson and Geneseo's Julia Wallace. Bloss finished with eight kills, a .316 attack percentage and five blocks, two solo, and Martens paced the Red Dragons with 15 digs.
Allie Sturgess (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) ended with nine kills, 10 digs and three blocks and
Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) put down seven kills.
Alexa Guedez (Mamaroneck/Rye Neck) led Cortland with seven blocks and
Giovanna Rossi (Nichols/Tioga) had four blocks.
Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) and
Samantha Rodriguez (Camarillo, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) totaled 18 and 14 assists, respectively. Hinshaw served two aces.
Williams led New Paltz (21-8) with 10 kills and was second with eight digs. Letisha Perez totaled six kills and five blocks and DiGiacomo dished out 15 assists and shared the team lead, along with Melanie Podstupka, with nine digs.
New Paltz was on the verge of winning the opening set, taking a 24-22 lead on a block by Williams and Lexi Stragalas. Cortland fought off two set points on Pilkey kills and took a 25-24 lead on a New Paltz error. The Hawks tied it on a Red Dragon error and earned another set point after a Red Dragon misplay, but Cortland re-tied the set on an error and scored the final two points on a block by Sturgess and Guedez and a kill by Sturgess.
Cortland didn't trail the remainder of the match. The Red Dragons grabbed an early 9-1 lead in the second and never looked back. In the third set, Cortland established a 13-5 lead and held a 19-11 advantage before rattling off five straight points to go up 24-11. New Paltz gamely scored the next six points to stay alive before a Cortland kill on an overhit ended the match.
