Cortland and Oneonta advance to SUNYAC Volleyball Semifinals

Posted: Nov 05, 2019

Full Women's Volleyball Championship Bracket

Third-seeded Cortland (23-10) defeated No. 6 Oswego, 3-0 (25-10, 25-22, 25-13) while fourth-seeded Oneonta (23-8) topped No. 5 New Paltz, 3-2, (25-19, 25-18, 23-25, 21-25, 16-14) Tuesday in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) women's volleyball first round matches on campus.

Cortland will face No. 2 Brockport, Friday at 4 p.m. while Oneonta will take on top-seed and host Geneseo at 7 p.m. Oswego finishes its season 20-10 and New Paltz ends its season 15-12 overall.

More Details Oswego at Cortland

Bridgette Moran (Massapequa Park/St. John the Baptist), Hannah Southcott (Princeton, WV) and Maya Owens (Nyack) led Cortland with eight kills apiece. Moran finished with no errors in 15 attempts for a .533 attack percentage and also led Cortland with five blocks, two solo. Southcott finished with a .241 attack percentage (one error in 29 attempts) and added 14 digs. Nadia Moore (Durham, NC/Durham School of the Arts) rang up seven kills with no errors in 22 attempts for a .318 attack percentage.

Gabby Amelio (Pine Bush) led the Red Dragons with 18 assists and five aces. She increased her career total to 200 aces to become the 11th player in school history to reach that mark. Malley Bowen (Tioga/Tioga Central) added 15 assists and three aces and Carly Haegele (Commack) led the squad with 16 digs.

Oswego (20-10) was led by Melissa Lussier's 15 kills and Lauren Fie's seven kills. Julia Flohr handed out 27 assists and Emily Costa paced the Lakers with 20 digs.

Cortland finished with a .303 team attack percentage with 40 kills and only seven errors in 109 attempts. Oswego, conversely, finished with a .095 team percentage with 19 errors compared to 30 kills on 116 swings.

Cortland used a 9-1 run to extend a first-set 10-5 lead to 19-6. Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) had two kills and Moore, Southcott and Moran each had one during that stretch. In the second set, Cortland grabbed a 19-10 lead after kills by Moran and Southcott along with two Oswego errors. The Lakers, however, clawed back to within 23-21 after going on an 7-1 streak that featured four kills by Lussier and two by Shannon Stone. Moore's kill put Cortland up 24-21, but a service error cut the margin back to two. Moran wrapped things up with her fourth kill of the set.

Cortland took control midway through the third set as a 10-6 lead grew to 17-7 on a run that was highlighted by two Amelio aces, two Cortland blocks and kills by Moore and Owens. Oswego scored two straight points to close to within 17-9, but Cortland rattled off the next six points, the first three courtesy of Moran on a kill and two solo blocks, and the Red Dragons were never threatened.

Cortland advances to the SUNYAC semifinals for the first time since 2015 and will look to make it to the finals for the first time since winning the league title in 2012.

More Details New Paltz at Oneonta

Oneonta took the first two sets with scores of 25-19 and 25-19. New Paltz rallied to take the next two sets 25-23 and 25-21, before the Red Dragons captured the fifth set 16-14. Oneonta never trailed during the first two sets. New Paltz got the first point of the third set to take their first lead of the evening.

In the first set, Oneonta got off to a fast start, jumping out to an early 10-2 lead. With Clara Culeton (Oswego/Oswego) at the service, the Red Dragons went on a 7-0 run with three of the points coming on aces. New Paltz climbed back into the set after going on a 6-2 run following a timeout. The two teams went back and forth the rest of the match with Oneonta securing the win on a New Paltz service error.

Oneonta used five New Paltz attack errors along with kills from Kathryn Johnston (Altamont/Guilderland) and Clara Culeton (Oswego/Oswego) to take an early 7-2 lead in the second set. After New Paltz went on a 5-1 run to get back into the set, Clara Culeton (Oswego/Oswego) and Gillian Stieglitz (Montrose/Hendrick Hudson) had back-to-back kills to give Oneonta some breathing room. The Hawks pulled within two at 16-14, but a Victoria Moulder (Wantagh/Kellenberg Memorial) kill and a New Paltz attack error gave Oneonta the momentum back. Leading 18-15, the Red Dragons put the set out of reach with a 6-0 run with Katelyn McDonough (Guilderland/Guilderland) at the service. Jessica Fowler (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills) set up Victoria Moulder (Wantagh/Kellenberg Memorial) for the set winning point.

In the fifth set, the two teams battled back and forth early on with score being tied on nine different occasions. With Oneonta trailing 10-9, sophomore Adriana Losier (Fishkill/John Jay) subbed into the game and quickly gave the Red Dragons the lead with a kill and block. A Victoria Moulder (Wantagh/Kellenberg Memorial) kill extended the Oneonta lead to 12-10. New Paltz would rally to knot the set at 14-14 before Jessica Fowler (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills) fed Gillian Stieglitz (Montrose/Hendrick Hudson) for the 15-14 lead. The Red Dragons would capture the victory on a Clara Culeton (Oswego/Oswego) block.