BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team opened its SUNYAC schedule with a 25-20, 25-14, 25-20 loss at Buffalo State.
The Red Dragons (7-8, 0-1 SUNYAC) had their 55-match winning steak versus SUNYAC opponents (45 regular season and 10 postseason) snapped with the setback. Cortland will travel to Fredonia on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a league matchup.
Erica Arroyo (Nesconset/Smithtown West) led Cortland with eight kills and
Sanaiya Whitted (Poughkeepsie/Franklin D. Roosevelt) finished with five kills.
Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) totaled four kills and three aces,
Lily Coan (Sayville) recorded 10 assists and two aces,
Sarah Taggart (Buffalo/Williamsville South) had nine digs and Anny Lynch (Rochester/Our Lady of Mercy) led the team with three blocks.
Buffalo State (7-10, 1-0 SUNYAC) was led by Ella Wittman's 15 kills and .448 attack percentage (two errors in 29 attempts). Delia Lake finished with eight kills and a .312 attack percentage, Alex Arroyo finished with 28 assists, and Hailey Kulniszewski ended with 14 digs.
Buffalo State finished with a .273 team attack percentage (37 kills, 13 errors in 88 attempts) while limiting Cortland to a .102 attack percentage (23 kills, 13 errors in 98 attempts).
The opening set featured four lead changes and 10 ties, the last at 13-13. The Bengals scored the next three points to take a 16-13 lead, and they later tallied four straight to extend a 17-15 lead to 21-15 on the way to the win.
The second set was tied seven times early on. Three Wittman kills capped a 5-0 run to put the hosts ahead 13-8, and she recorded eight of her 15 kills in the set as the Bengals pulled away. Cortland led the third set, 19-16, after a
Grace Anderson (Pawling) kill, but the Bengals finished the match on a 9-1 run, including the last five points after the set was tied at 20-20.
