Box Score Oneonta, NY — Overcoming a rough first two sets Tuesday night, the State University of New York at New Paltz showed its resiliency to fight back and extend the game into a deciding fifth set against hosting SUNY Oneonta at Dewar Arena.
 
With State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title hopes on the line, the No. 5 seeded Hawks (15-12 overall) extended their playoff lives by earning 25-23 and 25-21 wins in the third and fourth sets, respectively, to force an exciting deciding final stanza against the No. 4 seeded Red Dragons (23-8). Unfortunately SUNY New Paltz couldn't complete the comeback, as the hosts took the fifth, 16-14, and the game 3-2 (19-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-21, 14-16). 
 
"This team, they showed a lot of heart again tonight," said Hawks coach Matt Giufre. "We came out and got thumped in the first two games and it looked like we were in for a short, bad night. For them to come out in the third set and keep playing volleyball and not get rattled, not let it affect them, just find ways to score points and stay in the match and win those two sets, I'm just super proud of their efforts and how much they just stuck together and kept grinding through the match." 
After a lackluster first two sets with SUNY New Paltz never seeing a lead, the Hawks brushed off and jumped out to a 3-0 advantage to start the third. The Red Dragons didn't go away, however, as they re-claimed the lead at 5-4. The set then went back-and-forth, with the score knotted four times until Courtney Gebhardt pushed SUNY New Paltz ahead, 9-8, which ignited a 4-0 run that the Hawks used as a cushion to ultimately claim a 25-22 win. Maddie Van Pelt sealed the victory after a long rally with a emphatic kill.
 
Set four mirrored the third, with SUNY New Paltz jumping out to an early advantage. Again Oneonta came back to tie the score at four and five-all, but a block by Herasme sparked a 4-0 run, which forced the Red Dragons into their first timeout of the set. The Hawks served the ensuing ball into the net to end the stretch, but Van Pelt made sure to continue the Hawks momentum with another kill. Blocks by Demi Herasme and Kerri Neville forced another Oneonta timeout a couple points later to facilitate a 9-1 run in favor of SUNY New Paltz, which helped extend its cushion, 15-7.
 
The Hawks had trouble closing out the set due to a several service errors, which allowed Oneonta to inch back in. Their advantage dwindled down to as little as two with the Red Dragons cutting SUNY New Paltz's lead, 21-19. But again, the Hawks managed to bend and not break, closing out with a kill by Herasme.
 

LETS GOO @HerasmeDemi closes out set 4 with a kill to seal a 25-21 W for #NPHawksWVB & WE'RE ALL TIED UP!! Hawks rally to force a set 5 #nphawks pic.twitter.com/KopAJZIWCA

— New Paltz Hawks (@nphawks) November 6, 2019

 
"Fortunately the missed serves didn't hurt us in the fourth set, and made it a lot tougher for us, but even in the fifth we just can't give up ball-after-ball-after-ball and not give ourselves a chance to score points," Giufre said. "You don't give yourselves a chance to extend the game when you're shooting yourself in the foot ball-after-ball, but we did work through it in the fourth."
 
Van Pelt opened up the fifth with a kill to put the Hawks in front, but the lead changed hands five times with nine ties from there. A block by Neville in the middle gave her team a 10-9 advantage, but it was their last of the game. A timeout by Oneonta was followed with three-straight points by the hosts to re-gain control and enough of a cushion to hold on for the win. Van Pelt smashed another hard-hit kill in between the lines to tie the score at 14, but Oneonta responded with a kill of its own to set up match point.
 
The Red Dragons then ended the game on a controversial play, as a tip by Van Pelt looked as though it hit the floor just out of the reach of the out-stretched hand of a Red Dragons player. The line official signaled, but the head referee overruled the call and let play on, which resulted in the game-winning block by Oneonta's Ciara Culeton.
 
"Even in the fifth set going back and forth, we thought maybe late we were going to grab a little bit of a lead, but credit to Oneonta we just couldn't slow them down in the middle and that was really the match," Giufre said. "We were trying to get some better performances from some people and they struggled early and got hot later, and kept us afloat, but unfortunately there were a couple of plays that Oneonta made in the fifth that we didn't make. When it's close like that that's what determines who wins. They played better volleyball than we did from start to finish."
 
Van Pelt led the team with 16 kills and 15 digs, but hit an uncharacteristic .076. Herasme had one of her best performances for the Hawks, sparking her team with 14 kills, three blocks and two digs, while hitting .229.
 
"Demi clearly came out ready to go and Courtney [Gebhardt] (nine kills, one assist) played well in the beginning, and throughout the match as well, but Demi was definitely a bright spot from start to finish," Giufre said. "Just super aggressive, always in the right place, taking her best swings, not afraid of the moment, not backing down from situations. Even if she made a hitting error she would come back and make two or three kills. She just played with a lot of guts and really, even through our rough times showed we had a glimmer of somebody that was on fire and if other people could catch up to that than maybe we could get ourselves back into this."
 
Neville also reached double-figure kill totals with 11, hitting .222 with three blocks, while Haley Timarky totaled 44 assists and four service aces to pace SUNY New Paltz offensively, while also adding 16 digs.

The loss ends an up-and-down season for the defending conference champions, while the Red Dragons move on to play top-seeded SUNY Geneseo Friday in the SUNYAC semifinals. SUNY New Paltz graduates a pivotal senor class in Van Pelt, Neville, Nicole Fellone, Emily Visintini and Shannon Thomas.
 
"This senior class is really special," Giufre said. "We did not have a good season comparatively to the season's we have been having over the last number of years. I know if we didn't have strong seniors with this program the team could have easily fallen apart, pointing fingers or splintering or not giving as much effort, and they made sure that didn't happen and we were able to salvage something positive. I know a few weeks ago when we were losing a lot of SUNYAC games we didn't even know if we would even get to this point and we were able to start playing better volleyball over the past couple weeks, and it is just upsetting to know we won't have a chance to move forward."

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