Cortland Clinches SUNYAC East Title; Red Dragons Reach 30-Win Mark for 23rd Time

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Cortland women's volleyball team clinched the top seed in the SUNYAC Eastern Division and earned the right to host the conference postseason tournament with victories over New Paltz, 3-0, and Oneonta, 3-1, in divisional pool play at SUNY Plattsburgh.

Cortland, ranked 18th nationally in Division III, improved to 31-1 overall and 6-0 in the SUNYAC East with two conference matches remaining Saturday versus Potsdam (noon) and Plattsburgh (2 p.m.). Cortland is guaranteed no worse than a tie for first in the division with New Paltz, which is currently 4-2 in league play, but Cortland has beaten the Hawks twice and would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

In addition, Cortland reached the 30-win mark for the fifth time in Pam Hoerup's seven seasons as head coach and the 23rd time in program history.

Cortland beat New Paltz 25-19, 25-23, 25-16. Senior Sheena Asibey (Brentwood) led the team with 11 kills and three blocks and senior Kaitlyn Cooper (Webster/Webster Schroeder) tallied 10 kills and four blocks. Junior Kristen Guercio (Smithtown/Smithtown East) recorded 32 assists and 11 digs and senior Ashley Coyle (Mt. Hope/Minisink Valley) amassed six kills, 12 digs, two aces and three blocks.

Sophomore Aubrey Barrett (Liverpool) and junior Katie Wick (Cortland/Homer) each added four kills. Barrett also had two blocks and Wick had eight digs. Senior Jaclyn Lawrence (Marilla/Iroquois Central) and sophomore Krissy Silk (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) finished with 15 and 10 digs, respectively.

Cortland then rebounded from losing the first set to Oneonta, 27-25, to win the next three sets, 25-22, 25-15, 25-21. Barrett led the way with 15 kills and also registered 22 assists, 11 digs and two blocks. Asibey contributed 13 kills and three blocks, Wick had 11 kills, 21 digs and two blocks and Coyle rang up 11 kills, 10 digs and three aces.

Guercio dished out 34 assists and dug up 10 Oneonta attempts. Cooper finished with eight kills and five blocks and Lawrence added 14 digs.

Cortland will host the six-team SUNYAC tournament Nov. 3-5 and will receive a bye into the Nov. 4 semifinals. The top three teams from the East and West divisions qualify for the tournament, with the winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs

SUNYAC East Pool Play Scoreboard (matches at Plattsburgh Oct. 21-22)