Potsdam, NY – With a raucous crowd backing its play, Southern Vermont put in a solid effort against top-seeded Cortland, but the Red Dragons held off the Mountaineers in three straight sets, 25-19, 25-12, 25-23, in the opening round of the NCAA New York Regional Friday evening at Clarkson’s Alumni Gymnasium.
Cortland posted its 40th victory of the season and improved to 40-1 overall in 2011. Southern Vermont saw a 51-set winning streak come to an end after losing the first set, and finished off the season at 31-3. Cortland will play the winner of Nazareth and Clarkson at 6:00 pm on Saturday.
In the first set, Southern Vermont trailed early by four points, but was revitalized by a well-traveled crown of Mountaineers’ fans, and took the next four points to tie the score 7-7. However, Cortland regained its composure and forced Southern Vermont head coach Josh Stokes to take a timeout midway through the set trailing by six points. From that point on, nothing changed and the Red Dragons finished with a six-point edge.
The second set saw Southern Vermont and Cortland tied 5-5, but the Red Dragons offense picked up the pace, while the Mountaineers made numerous unforced errors, and Cortland ran away with the second set. Southern Vermont made 10 errors, and hit at a negative .133 percentage.
The third set appeared as if it would go to Southern Vermont on several occasions. The Mountaineers jumped out to a six-point lead, 13-7, only to see the score tied up at 13-13. Once again, Southern Vermont took modest advantages, only to see Cortland come back each time. Trailing by three points, 22-19, Cortland scored five straight points to nearly close out the match. A single kill brought Southern Vermont back into play, but the Red Dragons earned a block to close out the set and match.
Middle hitter Kaitlyn Cooper proved to a tough match up for the Mountaineers as she recorded 10 kills and had just two errors in 18 swings for Cortland. Sheena Asibey did Cooper one better, producing the same numbers in one less swing. Ashley Coyle also added in nine kills while producing a team-best 16 digs to go along with three aces. Kristen Guercio led Cortland with 33 assists and also had nine digs, while Jaclyn Lawrence produced 10 digs as the libero for the Red Dragons.
Southern Vermont’s Jessica Alvarez led all hitters with 14 kills, including five in each of the first two sets. The rest of the Mountaineers accounted for 16 kills and 14 errors in 79 swings as Cortland was able to produce seven total blocks. Hershey Canta led the Mountaineers with 26 assists, while Joanna Hogue posted 12 digs and Alvarez added 10 digs.
