Volleyball Splits on Day One of Cortland Volleyball Tournament

CORTLAND, N.Y. (September 2, 20222) – The Western New England women's volleyball team competed in the 37^th Annual Cortland Red Dragons Women's Volleyball Classic for their first few games of the season. They battled in their first match up against Hartwick College Hawks but lost three sets to one but fought out a win against the Fredonia State Blue Devils in three sets to one.

Records:

• Western New England: 1-1
• Hartwick College:  2-0
• Fredonia State: 0-1

How It Happened: vs. Hartwick College

In the first set against the Hawks went back and forth with kills from both teams but the Golden Bears quickly went up 3-1. After a service error by Hartwick, WNE picked up a 7-4 lead before Hartwick worked their way to take their first lead. The Golden Bears suffered from a service error, a few attack errors and ball handling error, and the Hawks went up 12-9. The Golden Bears brought it back within two. A series of plays gave Hartwick the biggest lead of the first set of four points. Momentum changed for the Golden Bears at the end of the set. Proceeding another back and forth point exchange, WNE, down four 21-17, held the Hawks at 21 points. Zoe Bozzay had five straight service aces to take the lead of the set 22-21. An attack error and two more aces from Bozzay gave the Golden Bears the first set.

The Hawks start the second set with two straight before WNE got on the scoreboard. It was followed by three straight points for Hartwick for a 5-2 score. The Golden Bears responded by tying the score at 7-7, then taking an 8-7 lead. The two teams go kill for kill until four attack errors gave the Hawks back the lead for the rest of the set. The Golden Bears kept it within three, trailed 18-15, but the Hawks did not let up the rest of the set and did not let the golden Bears score another point. The set concluded 25-15. 

Set three started the same way set two did with Hartwick picking up the first two points, and then holding a three-point lead. A kill from Bozzay and ace brought the Golden Bears within one of the Hawks. Attack errors really hurt WNE in this set, three straight gave Hartwick their largest lead of the third set, 19-11, before Golden Bears Alissa Hawes put two kills on their side of the net. WNE still could not close the gap on the Hawks in the third and now tailed two sets to one, losing the third 25-21.

The set was like the previous two, The Golden Bears had to fight from being down 2-0 and then 8-3. Hawes and Yemayma Molina helped tie the set for WNE at 8-8 with a few kills and a few errors on the Hawks side. The Golden Bears kept it tied up and gained a point lead at 11-10 before the Hawks went for seven straight points. The Golden Bears did not have another game lead for the remainder of the fourth set and they fell to the hawks three sets to one. 

Inside the Numbers: vs. Hartwick College:

• The Golden Bears ended the match with 38 kills, 29 assists, 54 digs, and one block while hitting .036 percent.
• Alissa Hawes and Sarah Scott led Western New England with 13 kills and one service ace. Hawes had nine digs, while Scott had six.
• Yemayma Molina tallied seven more kills and Becca Mayer recorded 15 digs.
• Hailey Sell led the team with 24 assists.

How It Happened: vs. Fredonia State

The Golden Bears jump out to a quick 3-0 lead against the Blue Devils. WNE held the lead, but Fredonia fought back to bring it within one for a 5-4 score, and then went on a four-point run to take an 8-6 lead. Western New England tied the set at 9-9 and kept it tied until they let the Blue Devils take three more straight points. The Golden Bears trailed Fredonia until the completion of the first. The Blue Devils kept building on their lead and closed out the first set, winning 25 to WNE 20.

The Golden Bears hit the scoreboard first in the second set. It wasn't long until The Blue Devils took the lead back and kept it until they committed a service error that tied the set at 5-5. The tied score worked out in the Golden Bears favor. They retook the set and dominated the Blue Devils. WNE scored six consecutive times bringing the score to 13-7. Still with the set in favor of the Golden Bears, the two teams went back and forth taking a couple points, until WNE took another six straight to close out the set 25-14.

Set three started all Golden Bears. A full team's effort put WNE up 4-0. Fredonia put points up, but the Golden Bears never let up during the set. Their lead jumped to six points, having nine and holding the Blue Devils to three. Fredonia fought to bring it within one for a score of 11-10. They remained competitive but they could not break the hold WNE had on the set. They had The Golden Bears in their sites down 16-15 but could never stop them from scoring. The Golden Bears take a two set lead to one, ending the third 25-18.

To conclude the final set, the Golden Bears never let up. They hit the scoreboard first and scored a series of eight points to take a 10-2 lead. Fredonia snuck two points in, but it was answered by three more by the Golden Bears. Already up 13-4, they took a 10-point lead at 16-6. The two teams had a few over the net action, but it was too late for the Blue Devils. The largest lead for the Golden Bears happened while they held Fredonia to eight points while tallying 23. The Blue Devils put a few more points in but ultimately fell to the Golden Bears 25-12 and lost the game three sets to two. 

On the Court: vs. Fredonia State

• The Golden Bears ended the match with 35 kills, 29 assists, 54 digs, and two blocks while hitting .092 percent.
• Sarah Scott led Western New England with nine kills and 11 digs, adding two service aces and a block.
• Yemayma Molina also tallied nine kills, while Taylor Geist contributed 23 assist and 10 digs.
• Isabella Procida also added 13 digs and four service aces from Zoe Bozzay. 

Up Next: The Golden Bears will be back at the 37^th Annual Cortland Red Dragons Women's Volleyball classic tomorrow, September 3, where they will battle SUNY Cortland at 12 p.m. followed by St. Lawrence at 2:30 p.m.