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POTSDAM, N.Y. – For the second year in a row, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team advanced past the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament, besting Colby-Sawyer College, 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-16), on Friday afternoon at the Clarkson Regional hosted by Clarkson University.

New Paltz (33-6), one of 19 Pool "C" qualifiers into the NCAA Tournament, takes on Richard Stockton College in the second round tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m., with the winner of that match to play for the regional championship on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 2:30 p.m. Colby-Sawyer, the automatic qualifier from the North Atlantic Conference (NAC), finishes its season at 22-11.

While the Hawks won in straight sets, the match was far from easy, as they trailed by significant margins in the first and second sets. New Paltz, however, was able to rally back in both frames, and with the momentum clearly on its side, the Hawks were able to cruise to a comfortable third-set win late.

For the match, New Paltz hit at just a .108 clip, and Colby-Sawyer was able to land nine service aces. Eight Hawk blocks, though, six of which came from freshman middle hitter Morgan Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa), ultimately helped propel New Paltz to the win. Colby-Sawyer hurt its chances for a victory with 32 attacking errors, 13 of which came in the third set.

Colby-Sawyer blasted out to a 10-3 lead in the first set on the strength of three kills by junior outside hitter Jackie Keating. The Hawks clawed back, though, with back-to-back Charger errors leading to a 10-7 score in favor of Colby-Sawyer. The Chargers continued to press on and looked destined to win the first stanza. After a kill by sophomore setter Laura Smolinski, Colby-Sawyer took a 20-14 lead. The Hawks wound up scoring five straight points, though, and a Roessler kill drew New Paltz within one. Colby-Sawyer broke up the streak with a kill, but the Hawks went on another four-point tear, and a Roessler termination put New Paltz up by two at 23-21. A kill by junior outside hitter Stephanie Vecchio prompted New Paltz to insert sophomore outside hitter Becca Borquist (Rhinebeck, N.Y./Rhinebeck) into the match, and she accounted for two of the set's final three points to propel the Hawks to a 25-23 set victory.

The Chargers once again constructed a large lead in the second, and a termination by senior outside hitter Courtney O'Hara pushed the Colby-Sawyer edge to 17-12. Kills by Borquist and junior outside hitter Alex Bizub (Linden, N.J./Cranford) and a bad set by the Chargers prompted a Colby-Sawyer timeout, and the Chargers responded in turn by extending their lead to five at 22-17. Several unforced errors by Colby-Sawyer opened the door for a New Paltz comeback, and the Hawks wound up knotting the tally at 22-all. Senior middle blocker Emilee McBride ended the streak of misfortunes for Colby-Sawyer with a kill, but a Charger setting error and a pair of block assists by senior setter Marissa King (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua Academy) and Roessler handed New Paltz a 25-23 triumph in the second.

The two teams played tight for the first half of the third set, but a string of three straight Hawk points gave New Paltz a 17-14 edge. After a Vecchio kill drew the Chargers within three at 19-16, six straight errors—one of the service variety and five of the attacking variety—gave the Hawks a match-clinching 25-16 win in the third.

Roessler was New Paltz's star of the match, boasting nine kills, a .412 hitting percentage and six total blocks in her first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. King dished out 23 assists, while senior libero Carrie Hack (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) and Borquist notched 14 and 13 digs, respectively.

Keating's nine kills and 10 digs paced Colby-Sawyer, while Smolinski's four aces propelled the Chargers off the serve. Senior libero Ally Le-Bruno came up with a match-high 21 digs.