Clarkson Beaten By St. Thomas, MN, in National Quarterfinals

SUNY Potsdam’s Kayla Howard (14) prepares to block the spike of SUNY Plattsburgh’s Laura Diehl.  The Bears rallied to defeat Plattsburgh 3-1 in the final match of the day. Potsdam came out swinging in the first two sets, capturing 25-22 and 25-16 decisions. Potsdam fell behind early in the third.  Tia Wright Anne Fildes and Auerbach sparked a run for the Bears to close the gap late in the set. However, the Cardinals were able to hold on 25-22 to force a 4th set. (John LaRue photo) Match Gallery.

Nov. 3: The SUNY Potsdam volleyball team (23-17) continued in post season action against Kean University (28-10) in the first round of ECAC tournament Friday night. The Bears fell in three sets to the Cougars concluding a strong season. “I am proud of the seniors,” said Head Coach Steve Pike. “Anne Fildes (Red Hook, N.Y. / Red Hook), Kayla Howard (Marcellus, N.Y. / Marcellus), and Jill Dye (Middletown, N.Y. / Minisink Valley) have worked hard and I thank them for everything they have given us.” The Bears battled hard in a closely contested three sets. Potsdam fell behind late in the first set as Kean held a 21-17 lead. The Bears clawed back into the game, closing the gap before the Cougars claimed the set, 25-23. Potsdam responded in the second set, generating a 13-9 lead over Kean. The Cougars answered with a late run to close out the game, 25-22. The third set was another fight to finish as the Bears refused to close out the season. The battle-tested squad fought to the end, dropping the final set of the season, 26-24. Junior outside hitter Dakota Pruiss (Wallkill, N.Y. / Wallkill) led the Bears attack with 11 kills. Junior setter Jenna Blujus (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C.W. Baker) totaled 26 assists and 10 digs. Senior libero Jill Dye added nine digs, respectively. “I am proud of how the team competed, how they have practiced, and how they have carried themselves the entire year,” said Pike. “I think Dakota had her best offensive match of the year. Jenna did a good job at distributing the ball and Dye did a good job in serve receive.”

Nov. 2: The SUNY Potsdam volleyball team (23-15) opened the SUNYAC Championship tournament with a 3-1 win over Oneonta State (21-13) before dropping their second contest of the evening to Fredonia (19-15), 3-0. “I am very happy for our program,” said Head Coach Steve Pike. “We battled and fought together as a team. Overall, I thought our serve receive was the key to the game and it kept us in system.” Oneonta rushed out to an early 8-3 lead in the first set as Potsdam struggled to find a rhythm. Junior setter Jenna Blujus (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C.W. Baker) calmed the Bears as she served to a 13-13 tie. Potsdam rallied behind their reliable setter and closed out the game 25-22. The Red Dragons pulled away from the Bears once again in the beginning of the second set with a 9-2 lead. Potsdam closed the gap with a late rally by senior middle hitter Anne Fildes (Red Hook, N.Y. / Red Hook) but Oneonta was able to halt the charge and claim the set, 25-20. The third and fourth games were very different as the Bears garnered some momentum from junior middle hitter Sara Anderson (Lake George, N.Y. / Lake George), Fildes, and Blujus. Anderson’s serve generated a large lead for Potsdam in the third set securing the 25-21 victory. Blujus’s serve sparked the Bears in the fourth game as she fueled an 8-0 run late in the set for the 28-26 win. Anderson led the Bears attack with 16 kills and freshman outside hitter Rachel Auerbach (Ashburn, Va. / Stone Bridge) followed with 11. Blujus totaled 38 assists. Senior libero Jill Dye (Middletown, N.Y. / Minisink Valley) finished with 15 digs. “I thought Dakota Pruiss (Wallkill, N.Y. / Wallkill), Gabby Arana (Williston Park, N.Y. / Herricks) and Jill Dye did a good job in the serve receive. Allie Romaniello (Selden, N.Y. / Newfield) came in and passed well when we needed her to. It was great for Dakota to come back from injury and do very well on defense and serve receive. It was a great team effort.” The Bears faced a tough Fredonia team in the second contest of the night. Potsdam struggled against the Blue Devils serve. Fredonia was able to keep the Bears out of system for the match winning in three sets, 25-15, 26-24, and 25-18.  Anderson finished with six kills. Blujus totaled 15 assists and 10 digs to lead the Bears. “We kept fighting even though we were not executing in serve receive,” said Pike. “You have to give Fredonia credit for serving tough and not committing errors. We were out of system but I am happy with the way our players kept fighting.”

SUNY Canton’s Heather Lottie (17) and Caitlin Grimshaw (8) go up for a block on the hit by SUNYIT’s Hanne Saarinen (13). The Canton Roos celebrated Senior Night on Wednesday with yet another home victory as they downed SUNYIT 3-0 in Roos House, for their 12th straight home with this season (12-0).   (Eric Foote photo)  Meet Gallery

SUNY Canton’s Mackenzie Mynter (1) spikes the ball past SUNYIT’s Deasia Goodson (11) for the point. 

Oct. 17: The SUNY Canton women’s volleyball team celebrated senior night on Wednesday with yet another home victory as they downed SUNYIT 3-0 in Roos House. SUNY Canton is a perfect 12-0 at home this season after Tuesday night’s win and they ran their winning streak to 11 matches improving to 18-2 overall. The Roos, ranked 4th in the USCAA, beat the Wildcats 25-13, 25-16, 25-20. Senior Abbey Shoen (Waddington, N.Y.), Heather Lottie (Canton, N.Y.) and Danielle Swanston (Burke, N.Y.) were honored prior to the start of the match. Swanston finished with 12 kills. Lottie had six kills and Shoen had one kill and one ace. Freshman Kiana Archer (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) handed out 23 assists. Freshman Morgan Bills (Walworth, N.Y.) had eight kills. Sophomore Jessica Reynolds (Churchville, N.Y.) added seven kills and sophomore Mackenzie Mynter (Churchville, N.Y.) contributed eight assists and five kills. The Roos are next in action this weekend when they play in a tri-match at D’Youville College. The Roos face Franciscan University and the host Spartans on Saturday in Buffalo.

Oct. 13: The SUNY Canton women’s volleyball team continued their torrid streak as they won their 10th straight match with a 3-0 sweep of Houghton College on Saturday in Roos House. The Roos, who have moved up to No. 4 in the USCAA Coaches Poll, won the first two sets by identical scores of 25-21, 25-21 and then put the match away with a commanding 25-12 win in the third set to improve to 17-2 overall and 11-0 at home. Senior Heather Lottie (Canton, N.Y.) anchored the home team’s winning effort on Saturday with 10 kills. Sophomore Mackenzie Mynter (Churchville, N.Y.) added 26 assists, four kills and four digs.  Freshman Robyn Carroll (Bowmanville, Ontario) collected eight digs and six service aces.  Freshman Morgan Bills (Walworth, N.Y.) nailed six kills, senior Danielle Swanston (Burke, N.Y.) contributed four kills and three digs, and sophomore Caitlin Grimshaw (Adams, N.Y.) had three kills. Houghton was led by Hattie Burgher who had 10 kills.  Jaime Green added 23 assists.

SUNY Canton’s Morgan Bills (11) elevates to defend a strong attack from SUNY Plattsburgh’s Laura Diehl (15). Canton women’s volleyball team stayed unbeaten at home with a 3-1 win over SUNY Plattsburgh. The Roos won their ninth straight match and improved to 16-2 overall and moved to 10-0 on their home court. (Casey Stephens photo)  Match Gallery

Oct. 13: The SUNY Canton women’s volleyball team continued their torrid streak as they won their 10th straight match with a 3-0 sweep of Houghton College on Saturday in Roos House. The Roos, who have moved up to No. 4 in the USCAA Coaches Poll, won the first two sets by identical scores of 25-21, 25-21 and then put the match away with a commanding 25-12 win in the third set to improve to 17-2 overall and 11-0 at home. Senior Heather Lottie (Canton, N.Y.) anchored the home team’s winning effort on Saturday with 10 kills. Sophomore Mackenzie Mynter (Churchville, N.Y.) added 26 assists, four kills and four digs.  Freshman Robyn Carroll (Bowmanville, Ontario) collected eight digs and six service aces.  Freshman Morgan Bills (Walworth, N.Y.) nailed six kills, senior Danielle Swanston (Burke, N.Y.) contributed four kills and three digs, and sophomore Caitlin Grimshaw (Adams, N.Y.) had three kills. Houghton was led by Hattie Burgher who had 10 kills.  Jaime Green added 23 assists. The Roos play their final regular season home game this Wednesday, Oct. 17 hosting SUNYIT at 6 p.m.

Oct. 9: The SUNY Canton women’s volleyball team stayed unbeaten at home with a 3-1 win over Plattsburgh State Tuesday night. The Roos won their ninth straight match and improved to 16-2 overall and moved to 10-0 on their home court.  SUNY Canton won the first two sets 25-13 and 25-23, lost the third set 25-22 and then won the match with a 25-21 win in the fourth set. Freshman Morgan Bills (Walworth, N.Y.) and senior Danielle Swanston (Burke, N.Y.) pounded down 12 kills apiece to lead the Roos.  Swanston also had 10 digs and Bills had three aces.Sophomore Mackenzie Mynter (Churchville, N.Y.) passed out 38 assists and made 11 digs and eight kills.  Freshman Robyn Carroll (Bowmanville, Ontario) made 21 digs.  Sophomore Jessica Reynolds (Oakville, Ontario) added 13 digs and eight kills and sophomore Caitlin Grimshaw (Adams, N.Y.) contributed seven kills.

St. Lawrence University's Lexi Brown (4) attempts to bat the ball past Clarkson University's Lani Durio (3) and Adrienne Walker (11), but the ball is tipped and kept in play. St. Lawrence eventually wins the point, but Clarkson wins the match in three sets: 25-16, 25-21, 25-16.  (Bob LaRue photo)  Match Gallery

Oct. 13: The St. Lawrence University volleyball team was swept on day two of the 2012 Ithaca Tournament on Saturday afternoon, losing to Fredonia State and Sage by the scores of 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. "We played well at moments against Fredonia, but failed to execute when we needed to," said St. Lawrence head coach Shelly Roiger, whose team fell to 7-19 with the two losses. "Sage simply wanted it more, as they played with more heart and hustle. We made some very poor intellectual decisions and it cost us." The Saints played Fredonia tough in sets one and two, losing 25-23 and 25-20. However, the Blue Devils pulled away in set three, winning 25-15 for the sweep. Co-captains Katie Prue and Anna Kassab led the Saints defensively with 11 digs each, while Mariah Dignan added nine. Lexi Brown had a match-high nine kills, but struggled with eight errors as well. Kassab closed with 17 assists. Sage improved to 18-8 thanks to a 25-21, 17-25, 25-19, 27-25 victory in St. Lawrence's final match of the weekend. Brown had a solid match with 16 kills to only four errors, while Kassab had 36 assists. Three players, including Prue, Kassab and Brown hit double-digits in digs, with Prue leading the way with 15. Sage was led by Helen Putriment's 15 kills and 22 digs, while Joanie Cooney had 38 assists. St. Lawrence will open a three-match home stand next week on Tuesday, as the Saints host Clarkson University at 7:00pm in the Burkman Gymnasium. St. Lawrence will also face Skidmore and Union at home in a round robin on Friday, October 19, with the Saints hosting "Power of Pink" to aid in the fight against breast cancer.

Oct. 12: The St. Lawrence University volleyball team defeated Wells College 25-17, 25-8, 25-13 to earn a split on Friday at the 2012 Ithaca Tournament in Ithaca, NY. The Saints fell to the hosting Bombers in the opening match 3-1 (26-24, 25-23, 20-25, 25-17). St. Lawrence is now 7-17 on the season, after being led by rookie Rebecca Doser, who had 21 total kills on the day. "Ithaca was a match that was very close throughout and we just couldn't push forward in the fourth set. The third was the only time we had the lead the whole match and never gave it up," said St. Lawrence head coach Shelly Roiger. "We regrouped against Wells and did some good things, but we gave up way too many points off our serves." The Bombers earned two very narrow wins in sets one and two before the Saints got one back, 25-20, in the third. However, a 25-17 loss in the fourth set would give Ithaca the win, improving to 10-9 on the year. Rookie Lexi Brown had a game-high 19 digs for St. Lawrence, while captain Jenna Street had 28 assists. Doser closed with a team-high 12 kills against Ithaca. St. Lawrence rebounded in style against Wells, though, thanks to 12 kills for Brown, who finished with a hitting percentage of .429 on the match. Captain Katie Prue had 10 digs to lead the Scarlet and Brown, while Doser had a .571 hitting percentage, closing with nine kills to only one error.

Three Saints players dive to the floor to save the ball, with Nyasha Miller (10) able to get to the ball first for the save. 
(Eric Foote photo)  Match Gallery

Clarkson University's Adrienne Walker (11) gets a full hand on the ball right at the top of the net and drives it to the floor for a point past St. Lawrence University's Rebecca Doser (12).
(Bob LaRue photo)  Match Gallery

Nov. 15: It wasn’t exactly the ending that the Clarkson University Volleyball team was hoping for, but after some early match jitters, the Golden Knights settled in and showed that they can compete with virtually any team in the country in a three-set loss (25-13, 27-25, 25-20) to St. Thomas in the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals held at Hope College. The Golden Knights saw their five-match post-season winning streak come to an end and finished off the season with a record of 31-7, the most wins (31) and the highest winning percentage (.816) in program history. St. Thomas (Minnesota) continues its march toward the national title, improving to 38-1overall with its 33rd straight victory. NCAA Division III Quarterfinals Press Conference (4:18-8:39) In the first set, Clarkson got out to a narrow lead, but the Tommies rallied back to claim the lead midway through the match. After a kill from Victoria Kirkemo (Englewood, CO) helped the team pull within one point (10-9), Clarkson had a few errors to and St. Thomas was able to record a run of kills to push its advantage to double digits with 10 straight points, forcing the Knights to call their second timeout during the streak. A kill from Aishvina Arasu (Brea, CA) ended the scoring streak for the Tommies, but the advantage was too much to overcome as Clarkson fell in the opening set 25-13. The Tommies struck for 14 kills with only three errors in the first set on 30 swings, a .367 hitting percentage, while Clarkson had seven errors on the attack. Arasu led the team with three kills while Victoria Kirkemo and the recently recovered from injury Danielle Farabee (Katy, TX) each produced two kills. The first set did little to set a tone in the match as the Golden Knights showed that they would not be an easy out of the NCAA Championships. Clarkson fell behind in the second set by three points early on a pair of aces and a block, but kills from Walker and Arasu along with a block gave the Knights their first lead of the match since it led in the early going of set number one. Unfortunately for the Knights, their five-point run was returned by the Tommies with another point added. A Lani Durio (Austin, TX) ace brought Clarkson back to within one point (9-8), but St. Thomas produced another run similar to the one they had in the opening set and went into the timeout up by six points (15-9). It appeared from there that the Tommies would cruise to a second straight easy win, but Clarkson responded with five straight points. Erika Chin (Katy, TX) nearly aced the Tommies to tie the set up, but a diving dig from the back row kept the point alive and eventually went the Tommies way to momentarily keep Clarkson at bay. It would be a quick breath for St. Thomas, however, as Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) had a pair of blocks to give Clarkson a 17-16 advantage, forcing the Tommies to take a timeout. The minute break spelled St. Thomas well as the Knights lead was brief. St. Thomas scored three straight to regain its advantage, using some light taps to get over top of the block of Walker and the rest of Clarkson’s front line. Once again, the Knights regrouped with a kill from Arasu and an ace from Walker to take a one-point advantage, but Clarkson was unable to build upon its momentum as the Tommies blocked a swing in the middle and added an ace to put Clarkson head coach Johan Dulfur into a position of taking another timeout late in the set. A pair of errors from Clarkson knotted the score up one more time, and after a kill from St. Thomas, Arasu sent a kill to the back corner to send the set to extra points. Despite the back and forth nature of the second set, St. Thomas finally reclaimed its two-point advantage that it had earlier in the set and outlasted the Knights 27-25. In the early going of set number three, the Golden Knights utilized Bailey Walker (Centennial, CO), who scored three kills with a variety of shots in the course of four points to give Clarkson and early advantage. Once again, however, the Tommies roared back and took the lead (10-9) following a net violation against Clarkson, not allowing the Knights to build significant momentum. Trailing by one point (12-11), St. Thomas won six straight points on a kill, two aces, and three attack errors by Clarkson, giving the Tommies a 17-12 lead. Though the Knights would pull back to within two tallies (18-16), two more errors and three more kills gave St. Thomas enough of an advantage that it was able to simply hold off Clarkson for a 25-20 win and a three-set sweep of the Knights. For Clarkson, Arasu produced a match-best 11 kills while Durio also had a match-high 24 assists. Erika Chin had a team-best 15 digs for Clarkson. Overall, the Knights hit just .048 (31-26-105) in the match as the St. Thomas middles combined for 10 total blocks (two solo, 18 block assists). The Tommies’ Jill Greenfield had eight kills and 12 digs, but more importantly was devastating from the service line with five aces, contributing highly to St. Thomas’s 10-point run in the first set. Paige Brimeyer had eight kills and no errors in 14 swings and Kelly Foley had a team-high 10 kills and seven block assists. Katie Maher ran the offense to the tune of 23 assists, while Kaiti Wachter had a match-high 18 digs.  

Nov. 11: Trailing by two points in the fifth and final set against fourth-seeded New Paltz, the third-seeded Clarkson University Volleyball team scored four straight points, including two kills from Most Outstanding Player Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO), to claim the last game and advance to the NCAA Division III Volleyball National Championships by winning the NCAA New York Regional Championship Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium. The Golden Knights improved to 31-6 overall and will move on to national quarterfinals to be held at Hope College in Holland, MI, where they will face Minnesota-St. Thomas next weekend. New Paltz had its season end with a record of 34-9. Clarkson is the first volleyball team from the Liberty League to win a regional championship match. 2012 Division III NCAA Volleyball Championship Bracket In the first set, Clarkson and New Paltz traded points in the early going, but it appeared as if the Knights had the set in hand after a kill from Aishvina Arasu (Brea, CA) made the score 24-22. However, the Hawks would not go away and tied things up with a pair of kills from Michelle Jacobson. A pair of errors from the Hawks gave Clarkson the edge in extra points (26-24), but it was a harbinger of things to come. The second set seemed as if it would have no end, but once again Clarkson had an advantage and New Paltz kept the pressure on. The Knights were up by four (24-20) with just one point remaining to cinch a second-set victory, but New Paltz capitalized on four straight errors by Clarkson to again set up extra points. It would take more than just a single extra point for a team to pick up the win, though, as the teams teetered back and forth until the Hawks were finally able to gain three straight points. Eleanor Skovgaard struck for a kill to tie the score at 30-30, and New Paltz rode a pair of hitting errors into a 32-30 victory. Set number three was less in question as New Paltz had a handle on things midway through the match. Up by just one point, 14-13, New Paltz won five of the next six points for a more pleasant advantage and continued on to take a five-point victory. With momentum seemingly on the Hawks' side, New Paltz looked to finish off Clarkson in four sets, but an incredible run left no doubt that the Golden Knights would win the fourth. Up 4-2, Clarkson stared its run with an error by New Paltz and ran off 14 more straight points with Kirstie Shurie (LaCanada, CA) serving. Coupling kills and four aces from Shurie in the run, Clarkson ran off to a 19-2 advantage and cruised to a 25-10 win. The final set returned to a high level of contentiousness as New Paltz was able to right itself. The Hawks pushed out to a three-point advantage early and held a two-point lead at the bench switch (8-6). Though New Paltz would continue to hold an edge, for the majority of the extra set, the Golden Knights rallied to take the final four points. The Hawks were up 13-11, but Adrienne Walker produced a kill and Aishvina Arasu tied things up with another kill to force a New Paltz timeout. Right out of the brief break, Victoria Kirkemo (Englewood, CO) aced the Hawks and Adrienne Walker tapped down a kill for the clincher. Adrienne Walker was named the Most Outstanding Player of the New York Regional, and showed why in the championship match with 18 kills and just four errors in 37 swings. Kirkemo led the team with 20 kills and 15 digs, while Arasu was one short of her classmate in each category as well with 19 kills and 14 digs. Setter Lani Durio (Austin, TX) came within one assist of her career-high with 57 sets and also added in 22 digs. Erika Chin (Katy, TX) had a match-high 28 digs and Kirstie Shurie hasd 15 digs and six aces. For New Paltz, Michelle Jacobson had an incredible match with 20 kills and 22 digs, as well as a pair of block assists. Dana Vosilla had six total blocks and 10 kills and Marissa King led the offense with 50 assists. Carrie Hack contributed 27 digs as the team's libero, while Katy Herbst had 14 digs and Becca Borquist contributed nine kills, three aces, and 12 digs.

Two SUNY Plattsburgh defenders Maggie Schrantz (7) and Laura Diehl (15) double up to stop a hard spike from the tough SUNY Canton squad.  SUNY Canton improved to 16-2 overall with a 3-1 victory over SUNY Plattsburgh in a non-conference matchup.  (Casey Stephen photo)  Match Gallery

Oct. 13: Less than 24 hours after suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat, the Plattsburgh State volleyball team was determined not to allow extra sets to be a factor in their fortunes as it closed out play at the Hartwick College/Holiday Inn Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 13).   Senior outside hitter Rosi Cummings was named to the 2012 Hartwick College / Holiday Inn Invitational All-Tournament Team, finishing the weekend with 28 kills. The Cardinals came out of the gates rolling and never slowed down en route to a pair of 3-0 wins against Utica and SUNY Cobleskill to bring their 2012 record to 11-14 heading into their final weekend of SUNYAC Pool Play next week.   MATCH ONE: Plattsburgh State 3, Utica 0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-21) Needing just eight of the 10 available players on the roster, the Cardinals spread the ball around and had an easy time handing the Pioneers their eighteenth loss of the 2012 campaign – this one in straight sets.   Cummings led a balanced offensive attack for the Cardinals, racking up nine kills to go along with a team-high 12 digs. The Plattsburgh, N.Y., product also chipped in two of the eight Plattsburgh State service aces and had a block assist to her credit as well.   Maggie Schrantz finished with eight terminations on a team-high 28 swings. She was the only other Cardinal to reach double-digits in digs, scooping 10 to go along with a solo block.   Laura Diehl was the third attack option for the Cardinals, finishing with seven kills on 19 attempts as well as a solo block and a block assist.   Kristen Marchisatto and Kayla Nason split time at setter once again, and finished with 15 and 13 assists respectively. Marchisatto also put her service game on display, accumulating a team-high trio of service aces during the one-sided affair.   Abby Mell had the best-rounded match for the Cardinals, making her presence felt in every facet of the game. The senior finished with three kills, a pair of service aces, six digs, a solo block and a pair of block assists.   MATCH TWO: Plattsburgh State 3, SUNY Cobleskill 0 Turning in quite possibly the best match of her young collegiate career, Diehl led the Cardinals to their second sweep of the day, this time over SUNY Cobleskill.   The Manorville, N.Y., native gave Cobleskill fits all match, collecting a team-high 12 kills on 18 swings – good for an impressive .611 hitting percentage. She completed her double-double bid with a team-high 14 digs and chipped in one of the seven Plattsburgh State service aces in the match.   Diehl also proved to be a front row force, coming up with three solo blocks as well as a pair of block assists. The rest of the Cardinals backed Diehl up nicely, as Cummings tallied eight kills and 13 digs as well as three service aces while Schrantz and Mell each added seven terminations of their own.   Nason tallied a lone kill as well as the remaining three service aces to go with 10 digs. Meghan Clifford put her setting skills on display, passing out a team-high 16 assists. Nason chipped in 12 helpers of her own.   The Cardinals will embark on yet another road trip next Friday (Oct. 19) when they head to New Paltz to take part in the final SUNYAC Pool Play weekend of the 2012 campaign. First up is a date with New Paltz at 3 p.m. followed by a rematch with SUNY Potsdam at 7 p.m.

Oct. 12: In its final weekend of non-conference play before partaking in its last of four SUNYAC regular season matches of 2012, the Plattsburgh State volleyball team couldn’t get on the winning track, dropping a 3-0 decision to Lebanon Valley College before losing a heartbreaking 3-2 match to Hartwick at the Hartwick College/Holiday Inn Invitational on Friday (Oct. 12).   MATCH ONE: Lebanon Valley 3, Plattsburgh State 0 (26-24, 25-22, 26-24) Eking out a victory by just seven points, the Lebanon Valley College Dutchmen just outlasted the Cardinals in the first match of the day for both squads.   The Cardinals had little trouble navigating the porous defense of the Dutchmen, employing a .269 hitting percentage through the course of the tilt, but was unable to string together crucial points at big moments.   Maggie Schrantz led the Cardinals with eight kills on 16 swings with just three errors for an attack percentage of .312. Rosi Cummings was close behind her younger teammate, registering seven terminations. The senior attacked effectively, cobbling together a team-high hitting percentage of .417 in the match.   Cummings added eight of Plattsburgh State’s 21 digs and a pair of solo blocks to the cause. Unfortunately, after Schrantz and Cummings offense was in short supply, with senior Abby Mell racked up three kills as the next closest player in that department.   Kayla Nason passed out 17 assists while Mell picked up a pair of block assists. The Cardinals finished with four blocks and a quartet of service aces in the match – two of which came courtesy of Nason.   MATCH TWO: Hartwick 3, Plattsburgh State 2 (25-20, 21-25, 29-31, 25-15, 15-13) Although it possessed a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set, the Cardinals couldn’t keep their momentum up and would up dropping their match against the host institution.   After falling into a 1-0 hole to begin the match, the Cardinals rattled off two consecutive set victories to take their only lead of the match. Set three was hard-fought, featuring some 18 ties through the course of the frame. Neither team could obtain the momentum until the Cardinals took advantage of an errant attack by the Hawks that accounted for point 31 and a 2-1 lead.   From there, however, the hosts imposed their will in a pivotal fourth set where the Cardinals found themselves trailing by as many as seven in the early goings. Plattsburgh State got to within four points before a decisive 10-0 run by Hartwick knotted things at two.   Eager to earn the season sweep of the Hawks, the Cardinals came out firing on all cylinders in the deciding set, jumping out to an early 3-1 lead and maintaining an advantage throughout the majority of the set.   The Hawks, though, just wouldn’t go away as they kept chipping away at the Cardinals’ lead before eventually knotting things at 10. From there, the Hawks took control and used a decisive 3-0 run to take control of the match. Plattsburgh State fought to within one at 14-13, but couldn’t complete the comeback.   Again it was Schrantz leading the charge as the sophomore out of Buffalo, N.Y., tallied a team-high 11 terminations on 43 swings. Schrantz completed her double-double with 13 digs. Cummings produced a double-double of her own, accumulating to 10 kills while scooping up a team-high 22 digs to go along with a solo block.   Mell finished with eight kills and a service ace as well as playing the part of the most imposing player in the Plattsburgh State front row. The senior added a pair of solo blocks and two more block assists as part of the Cardinals’ 7.5 blocks in the match.   Laura Diehl had seven kills and three of the seven Plattsburgh State service aces. Jeanette Braun had the most efficient outing, putting up an attack percentage of .357 thanks to five kills on 14 attempts. Kristen Marchisatto and Nason finished with 17 and 11 assists respectively.

SUNY Plattsburgh’s Laura Diehl (16) spikes the ball past SUNY Potsdam defenders Liza Fields (20) and Kayla Howard (14) in the second game of Saturday’s match for both teams. Potsdam won the match three sets to one. Both teams split their two Saturday matches at the 2012 North Country Invitational meet.  (John LaRue photo)  Match Gallery