Cortland Sports Information Department
HUNTINGDON, PA. – Cortland rallied to win the first two sets and cruised in the third as the Red Dragons defeated Rowan, 26-24, 25-22, 25-11, in the first round of the NCAA Division III women's volleyball tournament.
Cortland (22-5), seeded fourth in the eight-team regional at Juniata College, will play in the second round Friday at 7 p.m. against the top-seeded host Eagles (29-1), who swept eighth-seeded Keene State in the first round. Rowan, the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) champion, finishes the year 24-7. The contest was a rematch from Oct. 28 when Cortland won in straight sets at Rowan.
Zoe Staats (Buchanan/Hendrick Hudson) led Cortland with 14 kills, followed by Giovanna Rossi (Nichols/Tioga) with 12 kills. Staats, who also had three blocks, ended with a .370 attack percentage (four errors in 27 attempts) and Rossi had a .409 attack percentage (three errors in 22 attempts). Emma Reilly (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) had six kills with no errors in 11 attempts (.545) and led the Red Dragons with six blocks. Allie Sturgess (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) finished with eight kills and 11 digs.
Megan McMahon (Ballston Spa) paced Cortland with 21 assists and Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) handed out 12 assists. Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) had a team-best 14 digs and Carly Haegele (Commack) finished with 13 digs.
Natalie Ogden led Rowan with eight kills. Brooke Adams totaled 22 assists and Simone Sparano finished with 16 digs.
The first set featured nine ties and seven lead changes. Cortland trailed 20-15 before going on an 8-2 run to take a 23-22 lead. Rossi had three kills and Staats two during that stretch. Rowan scored the next two points to go up 24-23, but Cortland averted a set point on a Staats kill. Reilly and Caterina Mangogna (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) combined on a block to give the Red Dragons the lead, and Cortland won the set on a Rowan attack error.
The second set was tied seven times and had four lead changes. Rowan led 14-10 but Cortland mounted a comeback and built a 24-19 lead. The Profs fought off three set points to close within 24-22 before Staats put down a kill to end the set. The third set was decided relatively early as Cortland used an 8-0 run to take a 10-2 lead. The margin grew to 11 at 15-4, and while the Profs made a brief run to get back within 15-8, Cortland answered with four in a row to go up 19-8 on the way to the 25-11 decision.
Cortland finished the night with a .216 attack percentage (43 kills, 18 errors, 116 attempts), including a .250 mark in the second and .257 in the third. Rowan was held to a .031 attack percentage with 26 kills and 22 errors in 129 attempts.
