Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Ithaca, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team dropped both matches on the second day of the Bomber Invitational, but despite the result the team felt more prepared to head into conference play.
 
"In spite of going 1-2, I saw us have stretches where we battled point for point with three very strong opponents," said head coach Matt Giufre. "We took a big step forward in staying aggressive against high powered offenses with a strong attack of our own."
 
The Hawks dropped their opening match in straight sets to a nationally ranked University of Mary Washington team 25-14, 25-21, 25-21. Leading SUNY New Paltz offensively was Taylor Cimillo and Maddie Van Pelt with six kills apiece.
 
The final match of the day was against host Ithaca College who had defeated Mary Washington earlier in the invite. The Hawks dropped a straight set decision 25-15, 25-16, 25-19.
 
Maddie Zwickl dished out 39 assists on the day and helped lead the budding Hawk attack. "Maddie again today made good aggressive set choices, which put our hitters in position to be effective," said Giufre.
 
One of those effective hitters was Sophomore Kerri Neville. Neville totaled 19 kills throughout the invite including a dominant performance in their win over Franklin & Marshall with a .500 hitting percentage. Neville was named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
"As we move into SUNYAC play, we need to take the experiences and lessons of the non-conference schedule into practice and competition, and continue to compete at 100 percent on each and every point," said Giufre.
 
The Hawks open up SUNYAC next weekend with SUNY Geneseo on Friday.