SUNYAC Pool Play in Fredonia

This past weekend was our most important weekend of the season thus far. We could earn the right to host the SUNYAC tournament with a convincing victory against Buff St, and all our players knew we'd have to be at our best to do so. The Friday night match against the Bengals drew a large home crowd and Dods Hall was full of energy, but our focus would be on playing the best volleyball possible.

With tough serving, quick sets, and good play at the net, we won the first set 25-19. Buff St. roared back in the second and third sets with great floor defense, winning 25-18, and 25-20. In the fourth set we were down 13-22 when we called our final timeout. We've been asked what was said during that timeout, and the truth is that very little was actually said. Our players are mature enough to work through difficult circumstances and we felt they simply needed a moment to collect themselves. Everyone in the gym was stunned when we rattled off the next eight points to come back 21-22. Buff St. would ultimately win the match with a 25-22 fourth set victory, but we were proud of our team's ability to play loose in a tough situation. Hannah and Lindsey had 13 and 10 kills respectively, while Kelly had a great match with 36 assists and ten digs. Paulina had eight kills and 18 digs, while Hokaj finished with 16 digs.

The start of the second day of pool play saw us match up against Brockport. We won the match in three sets, 25-16, 25-21, and 26-24. Again, Hannah and Lindsey had 13 and 10 kills respectively, while Paulina and Jess each had seven. We were particularly proud of the way Brianne Paganello finished the final set behind the serving line, serving an ace under pressure to win the match.

Our final match was against Oswego, and we were again victorious in three sets, 25-17, 25-18, and 25-19. Kelly gave all our hitters great opportunities as Lindsey finished with 11 kills, Hannah with seven, Jess with six, and Meredith finished the match with two perfectly executed slides. Lauren O'Hara had a nice match at the libero spot for us, finishing with seven digs.

After this weekend we are seeded in second place in the West for the SUNYAC Playoffs, which will be hosted by Buff St. We'll play at 6pm on November 2nd against the winner of an earlier Potsdam/Oneonta match. We're excited to have the next two weeks to prepare for playoffs. The entire playoff bracket can be found here:

http://www.sunyac.com/news/2012/10/20/fall2012_1020122929.aspx