SUNY Cortland Athletics

UNION, N.J. - Cortland lost two tight battles during the second day of the Kean University quad match, falling to nationally 16th-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater in four sets and Penn St. Harrisburg in five sets. The Red Dragons' six set losses included four by two-point margins and another by three points.
 
Cortland (1-2) returns to action next Friday and Saturday with three matches at a tournament hosted by Keystone College in Pennsylvania.
 
Cortland won the opening set versus Whitewater, 25-18, but the Warhawks won the next three sets, 25-17, 27-25, 26-24. Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) led Cortland with 15 kills and added 16 digs. Sanaiya Whitted (Poughkeepsie/Franklin D. Roosevelt) finished with nine kills and a .240 attack percentage, and Erica Arroyo (Nesconset/Smithtown West) added seven kills, three aces and 10 digs.
 
Melissa O'Connor (Hauppauge) recorded 24 assists, four aces and eight digs, and Bianca Sapano (Floral Park/Kellenberg Memorial) led the Red Dragons with 21 digs. Lauren Millspaugh (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) ended with six kills and four blocks.
 
Whitewater (1-1) was led by Gaby DiMotto's 16 kills and Penny Schell's 12 kills. Abbie Dix finished with 11 kills and five blocks, and Aubrie Krzus dished out 36 assists.
 
Cortland used an 8-0 run to turn a 9-5 deficit into a 13-9 lead in the opening set, and the Red Dragons kept Whitewater at bay the rest of the set. Cortland was within 18-16 in the second set before the Warhawks finished on a 7-1 streak.
 
Cortland led 23-20 in the third set, but Whitewater used two kills each by Dix and DiMotto to go up 24-23. After a service error tied the set, Cortland took a 25-24 lead on a Lily Coan (Sayville) ace. Whitewater answered with a DiMotto kill, a Dix kill, and another DiMotto kill to win the set.
 
In the fourth set, Cortland held a 23-18 lead before the Warhawks clawed back and got back to within one at 23-22. A block by Anna Lynch (Rochester/Our Lady of Mercy) put Cortland up 24-22, but DiMotto responded with two kills to tie the set. A Krzus kill put Whitewater ahead, and a block by Dix and DiMotto scored the match point.
 
In Cortland's second match of the day, Penn St. Harrisburg (3-2) defeated the Red Dragons, 10-25, 29-27, 25-22, 22-25, 17-15. Cortland was led by Pirrera with 15 kills and 25 digs and Whitted with a career-high 13 kills and a .333 attack percentage. Millspaugh ended with nine kills, a .286 attack percentage and four blocks, O'Connor handed out 31 assists and had 12 digs, and Sapano served four aces and added 21 digs.
 
Brianna Ondishin Ribon led Harrisburg with 15 kills and three aces. Camryn Wettstone and Nicole Dos Santos had 14 kills apiece, and Katelyn Chuang led the Lions with 18 digs.
 
Cortland took an early 11-3 lead on the way to its convincing win in the first set. The second set featured 13 ties and six lead changes. The Lions eventually broke a 27-27 tie with kills by Ondishin Ribon and Wettstone to tie the match. In the third set, the teams were tied 11 times and the lead changed hands on five occasions. With the score tied at 21-21, Harrisburg road a Chuang ace and a Dos Santos kill to go up by two. Arroyo's kill made it 23-22, but the Lions scored the final two points on a service error and an Abigail Frownfelter ace.
 
Cortland stayed alive with a win in the fourth set. Tied at 22-22, the Red Dragons registered the final three points on a Whitted kill, a block by Reese Chudoba (Hamburg) and Cassidy Cone (Penfield), and an Arroyo kill. Cortland led 12-8 and 13-11 in the fifth set before the Lions tied it on kills by Ondishin Ribon and Dos Santos. Arroyo put the Red Dragons up 14-13 with a kill, with each team then committing a service error to make it 15-14 Cortland. Wettstone's kill tied the set, Dos Santos added a kill to put Harrisburg ahead, and a Cortland attack error gave the Lions the match.