NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Playing in front of their home crowd inside the Hawk Center on Tuesday night, the No. 3 seeded women's volleyball team at the State University of New York at New Paltz swept visiting No. 6 seed SUNY Oswego 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-20) to advance to the SUNYAC Semifinals.
"It's always exciting to be in the tournament," explained head coach Matt Giufre. "We don't take it for granted and Oswego is a good team. We came out with a lot of fight and executed at a high level tonight. We're going to give it our best shot come Friday."
The Hawks (18-13) will now prepare to take on No. 2 seed SUNY Oneonta (16-15) on Friday, Nov. 4 at 4 p.m., played at No. 1 seed Brockport. New Paltz will look to avenge an earlier season loss as they fell to the Red Dragons on Oct. 22, 3-1 at Cortland. The Lakers end their season with a 14-16 record.
Senior outside hitters Morgan Roessler (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) and Anna Paulik (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) enjoyed their last match in the Hawk Center, leading the way with 12 kills apiece.
Junior setter Maddie Zwickl (Chester, NY/Warwick Valley) led the offense with 37 assists while junior libero Veronica Matedero(Hauppauge, NY/Hauppauge) registered 14 digs on defense. Freshmen Maddie Van Pelt(Montgomery, NY/Valley Central) and Meghan Keyes(Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) enjoyed seven and six kills, respectively.
Trailing 11-9 in the opening set, the Hawks gathered themselves and enjoyed a 6-1 run to jump ahead 15-12. Down the stretch, Keyes floored a pair of kills while Matedero wrapped up the first period with an ace.
New Paltz jumped out of the gates leading 7-2 in the second set and increased that advantage to 17-10 thanks to three kills from Roessler. After the Lakers crept to within four (21-17), prompting New Paltz to call a timeout, the Hawks closed the set out on a 4-1 spurt.
New Paltz led 10-6 to begin the third and final set but Oswego rallied with a 4-0 run to knot the set at 10-10. The Hawks tallied a 4-2 run thanks to kills from Roessler and Van Pelt to take a 16-12 lead.
The Lakers looked to rally and go within four, 22-18, but New Paltz was able to slam the door, using kills from senior Brittany Tyack (Commack, NY/Commack) and Keyes to advance to the next round and knock off the Lakers.