BALTIMORE, MD. – The Cortland women’s volleyball team survived a Merchant Marine Academy comeback bid and the Red Dragons defeated the Mariners in four sets in the opening round of the NCAA Division III tournament at Johns Hopkins University.
Cortland (27-3), seeded second in the eight-team regional, won the first two sets comfortably, 25-12 and 25-14. The seventh-seeded Mariners (22-4), however, won the third set, 25-19, and led 23-20 in the fourth set before Cortland won the last five points for a 25-23 set victory and the match.
Cortland, making its first NCAA appearance since 2012, advances to the second round and will face third-seeded Tufts Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Tufts (19-5) swept Eastern University in Friday’s opening first-round match.
Nicole Van Pelt (Montgomery/Valley Central) led Cortland with 17 kills and only two errors in 27 attempts for a .556 attack percentage and Hannah Southcott (Princeton, WV) finished with 14 kills, 10 digs and two aces. Alexa Guedez (Rye/Rye Neck) totaled nine kills with one error in 22 attempts (.364) and led Cortland with six blocks, three solo.
Ryan Hinshaw (Aurora, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) and Meadow Wittman (Colden/Springville Griffith Institute) handed out 25 and 16 assists, respectively, with Hinshaw also leading the team with four aces. Carly Haegele (Commack) ended with 12 digs, Mikenzie Martens (Carthage) matched Southcott with 10 digs, and Wittman had nine digs. Danielle Fisk (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) posted four blocks, two solo, and Maya Owens (Nyack) added three blocks.
Paige Smith paced USMMA with 16 kills and also had 16…
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