CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – The Cortland women’s volleyball team finished tied for 17th place in the NCAA Division III playoffs after losing to host and nationally 19th-ranked MIT in straight sets, 25-17, 25-17, 25-18, in the tournament’s second round.
Cortland closes the season with a 26-4 record, with each of the four setbacks coming to teams that advanced to at least the second round of nationals (MIT, Eastern, Ithaca, Middlebury). MIT (31-4) will host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the third round Saturday at 5 p.m., with the winner advancing to next week’s national “elite eight.”
Anna Pilkey (Ballston Spa) led Cortland with nine kills and added seven digs. Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) totaled eight kills, Alexa Guedez (Mamaroneck/Rye Neck) had five kills and four blocks and Lexy Bloss (York, PA/Dallastown Area) finished with five kills and three blocks.
Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) finished the match with 15 assists and Samantha Rodriguez (Camarillo, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) posted 12 assists and three aces. Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) led the Red Dragons with 22 digs.
Three MIT players finished with double figure kills. Lauren Keller had 12 kills, followed by Ella Gragg with 11 and Consecrata Rozario with 10. Emily Cheng finished with 43 assists, 10 digs and three aces for the Engineers and Ashley Margetts had 18 digs.
MIT finished with a team .323 attack percentage, posting 52 kills with just 11 errors in 127 attempts. Cortland hit at a .178 clip with 31 kills and 12 errors in 107 attempts.
The first set was tied at every interval from 1-1 to 7-7 before MIT used a 7-3 run to go up 14-10. Cortland briefly got back to within two at 14-1 before MIT pushed the margin to six at 20-14. The second set started off at 4-4, but MIT scored six of the next seven points to lead 10-5. The lead extended to 14-7, and MIT led by at least five from that point. In the third set, Cortland held a 12-10 advantage before the hosts recorded five straight points to take a 15-12 lead. The Red Dragons were within 15-14 before the Engineers went on a decisive 7-0 streak to take control.
Cortland was making its third straight NCAA tournament appearance and 27th overall. The Red Dragons also advanced to the second round in…
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