The New Paltz Women’s Volleyball team fought hard this Saturday with their double header against Farmingdale and Montclair State. On Sept. 18, they played Montclair State for the Tri-Match. Our Hawks took a 3-0 loss to Montclair on the Red Hawk’s home turf, but also walked away with a 3-0 win against Farmingdale.
The Hawks started off ahead with their first game against the Farmingdale Rams. They finished their first set against the Rams with a powerful 25-8 win, and kept up this energy for the rest of the game. The team worked together flawlessly with assists, kills and digs. Second-year setter Cate DiGiacomo had 18 assists, while third-year libero Mia Waddell held down defense with 12 digs. Third-year right side hitter Makenzie Bills pulled off 11 kills with pride.
“We won the first match and were really proud of the level of energy and execution we experienced,” Bills said. “I am just really proud as an upperclassmen to see our young team fight so hard and get better every time we go on the court.”
And fight they did. The younger team members worked alongside the upperclassmen, with second-year setter Dana Collins pulling off 12 assists and first-year Letisha Perez bagging two aces against Farmingdale. Perez said that they have a great team and that everything they do is to make the school proud. The team kept up their high energy and were able to finish strong. Our Hawks took the next two matches with no hesitation and had final scores of 25-18 and 25-12, respectively. The match against the Rams ended with a total of 41 kills, and energy was high.
When the match against Montclair began, New Paltz brought their A-game. Montclair got the first point, but our Hawks immediately took two points from attack errors by Montclair. The match went back and forth—no team had a solid lead throughout the set. Bills and second-year outside hitter Makenzie Williams were both able to snag three kills each this match. The Hawks and Red Hawks fought back and forth, but Montclair just barely took the win with a 23-25 score for the first set.
The second set started off with a four point lead from Montclair. The Hawks did not give up, and even secured four points in a row with a kill from Bills, and two kills in a row from third-year middle hitter Victoria Konicki. New Paltz worked relentlessly to bring up the score, but the second set still went to Montclair 25-19.
Montclair took the first two points of the final set. New Paltz wasn’t backing down yet; we took three points in a row with a kill by Konicki, a kill by Williams and a bad set from Montclair. After taking the first two sets, Montclair was energized for the final set and took a total of 13 kills. New Paltz kept pushing and took back some points, but our Hawks fell to the Red Hawks with a 25-14 loss in set three for a final score of 3-0.
A win and a loss this weekend have the Hawks hungry for more. Their next game will be a SUNYAC game held at our own very home court. Waddell was not discouraged and said the energy on the court and sidelines helped them win the first match and keep fighting through the second.
“Even though we didn’t win the second game,” Waddell said, “We learned a lot about what we need to work on.”
The team is keeping up their spirits and are taking the Montclair game as a learning experience. They know they can come back victorious in the next weekend of games. Come and support the Hawks Sept. 24 for their home game against Plattsburgh!
