CLINTON, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team continued its unusual pattern of five-set victories on Friday evenings as the Red Dragons rallied on the road for a 25-14, 22-25, 18-25, 27-25, 15-13 non-league victory at Hamilton College. 
 
Cortland (12-2) is now 5-0 in five-set matches this season with a win on each Friday night this month (Sept. 1 vs. Rochester, Sept. 8 vs. Springfield, Sept. 15 at Scranton and Sept. 22 at William Smith prior to the win over Hamilton). Cortland will be home Saturday at 1 p.m. versus Eastern University (Pa.), which is currently 13-3 after a four-set loss at Ithaca on Friday. 
 
Five Red Dragons posted double-figure kills in the match. Anna Pilkey (Ballston Spa) finished with 15 kills, 15 digs and two aces. Ten of her 15 kills came over the final two sets – five in the fourth and five in the fifth. Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) had 11 kills and three blocks and Alexa Guedez (Mamaroneck/Rye Neck) totaled 10 kills with just one error in 17 attempts (.529) and led the Red Dragons with five blocks. 
 
Giovanna Rossi (Nichols/Tioga Central) and Allie Sturgess (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) registered 10 kills apiece. Rossi also had four blocks and Sturgess added 16 digs and four aces. Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) and Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) each distributed 22 assists. Hinshaw added 13 digs and Wittman had nine. Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) led Cortland with 20 digs. 
 
Hamilton (5-5) was led by Kate Carman with 15 kills and Drew Stimson with 14 kills. Melissa Morelli totaled 45 assists and five blocks, Rylee Bergeron had 21 digs and Caitlin Allen amassed a match-high nine blocks, three solo. 
 
Cortland hit .519 in the first set and held leads of 6-1 and 15-4 on the way to an easy victory. Hamilton never trailed in the second set, although Cortland was within 20-19 on a Pilkey kill before the hosts scored the next four points to take control. The Continentals led wire-to-wire in the third set, jumping out to 8-1 and 17-3 leads. Cortland did fight back to within 24-18 before Carman's kill ended the set. 
 
The fourth set included nine ties and three lead changes. Cortland was down 19-15 before rallying to tie the set at 19-19. The Red Dragons eventually went up 24-21 after an Emma Reilly (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) block, but Hamilton fought off three set points and knotted the set at 24-24. The Continentals also erased a set point to tie the score at 25-25, but Cortland scored the final two points on a Pilkey kill and a block by Guedez and Rossi. 
 
In the fifth set, the score was tied eight times and the lead changed hands seven times. Down 10-9, Cortland scored five straight points on a kill and an ace from Sturgess, a kill by Pilkey, another Sturgess ace and a block by Pirrera and Lexy Bloss (York, PA/Dallastown Area). Sturgess had four kills with no errors on six hits in the set. Hamilton escaped three Cortland set points on a kill by Summer McClintic and two by Carman to close with one at 14-13, but Pilkey's kill gave Cortland the victory.