CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland women's volleyball team stayed unbeaten at home and in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play with a four-set victory over Morrisville on Tuesday evening in Corey Gymnasium. The Red Dragons have won 11 straight contests to move to 16-4 (5-0 SUNYAC) on the year, and are 9-0 in home matches. The Mustangs fell to 10-9 (2-3 SUNYAC) with the defeat.
 
Cortland posted a .209 attack percentage as a team, including posting 11 kills and only one error for a .556 percentage in the second set and 13 kills and one error for a .480 percentage in the fourth set. The Red Dragon defense also forced Morrisville to post a negative attack percentage in each of the first two sets.
 
Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) led the Red Dragons with 15 kills on a .345 hitting percentage, and added nine digs and three aces. Emalee Ballou (Eden) chipped in nine kills and Erica Arroyo (Nesconset/Smithtown West) tallied eight kills.
 
Emma Reilly (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) finished with four kills on six attempts, and added a team-high six blocks. Alyssa Rich (Rochester/Churchville-Chili) contributed 14 digs to lead Cortland. Melissa O'Connor (Hauppauge) had 22 assists, seven digs, and three assists, while Samantha Rodriguez (Camarillo, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) had 17 assists and three aces.
 
Isabelle Eskierka finished with 17 kills to lead Morrisville, and Kayla Sheasby had a team-high 14 digs. Keely Shearer dished out 16 assists and added six digs for the Mustangs.
 
Cortland used a 5-0 run early in the first set to breakout with a 9-3 lead. The Red Dragons led by at least three points for the remainder of the set, and finished a 25-15 win in the opening frame with four straight points, including a kill by Pirrera, a combo block by Reilly and Sanaiya Whitted (Poughkeepsie/Franklin D. Roosevelt), and a kill by Reilly.
 
Rich provided back-to-back service aces to push the Cortland lead to 8-3 in the second set. The lead continued to grow throughout the set, and the Red Dragons won seven of the final nine points, aided by two kills each from Ballou and Reilly, to complete a 25-11 victory.
 
The Mustangs showed life with a dominant 25-16 victory in the third set, with Eskierka tallying five of the 11 Morrisville kills. The Mustangs also had four blocks in the set to force Cortland into a negative hitting percentage at -.079 for the set.  
 
Cortland fell behind 7-3 in the fourth set, before rattling off eight consecutive points behind two aces from Rodriguez and one kill apiece by Ballou, Arroyo, and Pirrera. Morrisville closed to within 13-12, before the Red Dragons won 12 of the final 14 points to close the match. The run was highlighted by three kills and two aces by Pirrera, as well as two aces by O'Connor. Ballou contributed two kills in a row to make it 24-14, and Lauren Millspaugh (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) cemented the win with a kill for the final point.