BROCKPORT, N.Y. – The College at Brockport Volleyball team played a passionate match in front of an electric crowd that filled the Jim and John Vlogianitis Gymnasium pushing the Golden Eagles to the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championship as they defeated SUNY Cortland 3-0 Saturday evening.
Brockport (32-1) fed off of the energetic fans finishing the three set match with 42 kills and a hitting percentage of .258. The No. 1 seed Golden Eagles will now host the No. 2 seed New Paltz Hawks Sunday at 12 p.m. in the Jim and John Vlogianitis Gym.
Senior Kayla Barber played like a hungry athlete searching for a championship as she led the team with 15 kills. Setter Noelle Poloncarz spread the ball all around the court as Barber showed an incredible ability to hit from either side, tallying only three errors in 36 attack attempts.
The first set of play was tight initially as Brockport held a slim 9-8 advantage but a kill from Barber set by Poloncarz started a five point swing. Kathleen Irwin served the Green and Gold to a 14-8 lead with two points coming on kills from Barber and Ashley Capone. Barber provided the last point of the set with a powerful attack which no Red Dragon could handle.
Poloncarz led the team on an early run with her serving in the second set to give the team a 6-2 lead. She tallied two aces on the five point swing. Another five point run, led by the service of Rachel Fiser, nearly gave the Golden Eagles a 10 point lead. The Red Dragons and Golden Eagles traded points back and forth before Cortland utilized a few Brockport errors to close the gap to 23-17. However Sam Holdredge put Brockport back on track with a kill before Brianna Richardson craftily snuck an attack within the line for the final point of game two.
After initially trailing 5-2 in the third set, Brockport seemed to have things in control when Barber took over at the service line. She immediately tied the score with back-to-back aces while Holdredge and Capone gave Brockport some cushion with two kills. However the Red Dragons showed the pedigree that earned them a SUNYAC Semifinal appearance scoring five straight points to take a 10-7 lead.
The Golden Eagles deficit grew to 13-8 before they slowly started to chip away. Barber evened things up with a kill and helped Brockport to the lead at the service line before Cortland tied things back up at 18-all. The two teams traded single points for the next four scores prior to Brockport sealing the victory and a chance at its sixth SUNYAC Volleyball title by scoring the final five points of the match. During that stretch Holdredge and Richardson scored two points with kills.
Jamie Schlesinger led the team in hitting percentage achieving four kills in 10 attempts with zero errors while also demonstrating her valuable versatility with 14 digs, six assists and two blocks. Capone, Barber and Richardson also assisted on two blocks apiece.
Not only was Irwin a tremendous presence from the service line all match but she was a defensive wizard as the libero. She led the team with 19 digs, consistently sprawling out to make a point saving play for the Green and Gold. She was not alone in her defensive efforts as both Poloncarz and Schlesinger finished with double digit digs. Holdredge just missed the cut with nine as Maddy Taylor contributed six in limited action during her three sets played.
Brockport will host the Hawks in tomorrow's SUNYAC Volleyball Championship match of 2015 at noon. The Golden Eagles and New Paltz met once earlier this season in a highly entertaining battle of the conference unbeatens. Brockport rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win in five sets and secure the SUNYAC number one seed, also earning the privilege to host the SUNYAC tournament on its home court. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Golden Eagle scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking the "Brockport Golden Eagles" Facebook page.
