CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland won the opening set but lost three tight sets after that as the Red Dragons fell to visiting Brockport in the SUNYAC women's volleyball regular-season finale for both teams.

Brockport (14-10, 7-2 SUNYAC) won 17-25, 25-21, 25-22, 26-24 to clinch the second seed in the league and a bye into the conference tournament semifinals. Cortland (22-9, 6-3 SUNYAC) finishes in third place and will host the sixth seed, Oswego, in the quarterfinals on Nov. 5 at a time to be announced. That winner will play Brockport in the semifinals.

Hannah Southcott (Princeton, WV) led Cortland with 15 kills and added 13 digs. Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) had eight kills and Bridgette Moran (Massapequa Park/St. John the Baptist) and Nadia Moore (Durham, NC/Durham School of the Arts) picked up six kills each. Moran led the Red Dragons with five blocks, followed by Cat Mangogna (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) with four blocks.

Gabby Amelio (Pine Bush) totaled 19 assists, four aces and 16 digs. Carly Haegele (Commack) also served four aces, dished out nine assists and led the team with 17 digs.

Meaghan Mastro paced Brockport with 18 kills and Lindsey Luce had 10 kills. Kerry McHale and Abbey Manning finished with 22 and 21 assists, respectively, and Ellen Paddock amassed a team-high 20 digs.

Cortland took a 11-4 lead to open the first set and led by at least five the rest of the way. Cortland led 21-20 in the second set after fighting back from a 19-12 deficit, but Brockport scored the final five points on kills by Megan Muhlbauer, Luce and Elena Grossman, a Cortland error, and a McHale ace.

Brockport used an 8-0 run in the third to turn a 10-9 deficit into a 17-10 lead. The Red Dragons came back and got within 22-21 on a block by Camryn Anderson (Bronx/Cardinal Spellman) and Van Pelt, but Mastro and Jordan Thompson registered back-to-back kills to put Brockport up 24-21 on the way to the 25-22 win.

The fourth set was close from start to finish. The only time either team led by more than three points was on a kill by Luce that put the Golden Eagles ahead 23-19. Cortland, however, tallied the next five points on an error, an Amelio ace, a kill by Moore, another Amelio ace, and a kill by Van Pelt to go up 24-23. McHale, from her setter position, caught Cortland on a quick dump-in to tie the set, and two Cortland misplays gave Brockport the set and the match.

Prior to the match, Cortland honored its four seniors – Moore, Amelio, Malley Bowen (Tioga/Tioga Central) and Gabby Fernandes (Islip).
 
Cortland will play two matches next Saturday at the New York Regional Challenge, facing NYU at 11 a.m. and host RIT at 3 p.m., to close out the regular-season schedule.