Oswego, NY – Emerson Coulter led the team with 29 kills and had 32 digs across the span of two games as the SUNY Canton volleyball team split a pair of four-set matches in the Oswego tournament, beating the Utica Pioneers 3-1, but dropping to the Pitt-Bradford Panthers 3-1 Friday, September 19.

The Roos won a long first set against Utica 31-29, blew them out in the second set 25-10, dropped set three 25-22, but won the match with a 25-17 victory. Against Pitt-Bradford, SUNY Canton scraped by the first set 25-23, but dropped three straight 25-13, 25-20, and 25-22.

THE BASICS

• Result: Match 1: SUNY Canton 3, Utica 1 | Match 2: Pitt Bradford 3, SUNY Canton 1
• Location: Max Ziel Gymnasium – Oswego, NY
• Records: SUNY Canton (5-8) | Utica (6-7) | Pitt Bradford (10-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
MATCH 1 – BOX SCORE

• The opening set was full of runs to begin with as Utica had two 5-0 runs and SUNY Canton went on a 4-0 run with Pioneers controlling an early 11-6 advantage.
• Utica got their lead up to 16-8 at one point, but the Roos had none of that after they went on to score 11 of the next 14 points with three kills each from Coulter and Brooke Hite in that stretch which tied the game at 19.
• The rest of the set was seesaw action with neither team able to grab more than a two-point lead. With Utica threatening to end it with a 24-23 lead, Cruz had a kill to tie the game and send it into overtime.
• The game continued for quite a while, with the Pioneers taking a 29-28 lead, but the Roos scored the net three points off a service error, a kill from Tionna Edghill, and an attacking miscue to give the Roos the first set victory in a 31-29 thriller.
• In set number two, the game began with SUNY Canton holding a slim 12-9.
• After this, SUNY Canton went on their longest scoring run of the season, putting up 11 straight points to turn the once competitive game on its heels to 23-9. Both Coulter and Hite had three kills in this span.
• Coulter put the cherry on top with a kill for the match point as SUNY Canton enjoyed their largest margin of victory in a set this season winning 25-10.
• The third set was tight early on with the Roos winning 9-8 off a kill from Hite, however, Utica later grabbed a 15-10 lead after a big run.
• After a bit of back-and-forth play, the Roos went on a 5-0 run with kills from Coulter and Abby Raven and the game was suddenly 18-18.
• The set was close the rest of the way through, but with the score tied at 22, the Roos could not finish the match and dropped the next three points as Utica salvaged the set.
• The Pioneers were up 3-1 in the final set, but this was the last lead that Utica had. SUNY Canton went out ahead 6-3 off an ace from Nadia Frigon, but the game remained competitive with the Roos going on to hold a 19-16 lead.
• SUNY Canton ended the game with a bang after two kills from Cruz mixed with an ace by Raven gave them six of the last seven points as they took the match after losing to the Pioneers 3-0 exactly two weeks ago.

 
MATCH 2 – BOX SCORE

• The Roos were the first to double digits in the first set after Raven had two service aces and Cruz got two kills to power a 4-0 run and a 10-6 lead for SUNY Canton.
• SUNY Canton never succumbed to Pitt Bradford after this and later accumulated an 8-0 run to jump out ahead 21-12, their largest lead in the match.
• The Panthers did not go away that easily though, and made a monstrous comeback effort, getting the game to 24-23 in favor of the Roos, however, SUNY Canton prevailed off a kill from Hite as the Roos went out to take the first set 25-23.
• The second set began 6-6, but Pitt-Bradford began to pull away after this. The Panthers took an 11-8 lead and then went on an 11-0 run.
• Coulter and Madison Bigelow each had kills late, but the Roos dropped the second set 25-13.
• SUNY Canton responded by taking an early 7-5 lead in the third set, but once again, Pitt-Bradford went on another big run during the middle part of the set, this time a 7-0 spurt that gave the Panthers a 12-7 advantage.
• The Roos trailed by 4-6 points most of the way, until the very end when they scored three straight off two attack errors by Pitt-Bradford and a kill from Hite but it wasn't enough as the Panthers took their third set 25-20.
• In a tight fourth set, the Roos never had a lead early but never trailed by more than a few points.
• The Panthers really got going after a 5-1 run gave them a 16-12 lead, however, the Roos got back into it after a kill from Lauren Park made it 19-17.
• Late in the set, Raven got two straight kills to make it a 23-22, but unfortunately for SUNY Canton, they could not finish the deal and dropped the final set 25-22 and the match 3-1.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
 

• Coulter's 29 kills and 32 digs on the day led the Roos in both categories. Hite had 17 kills and Raven had 16.
• Cruz went for 15 kills, five aces, and 27 digs. Daycee Bane was second on the squad with 31 digs and also had 14 assists.
• Lauren Norman led the Roos with 40 assists and added 20 digs. Frigon had 31 assists, five aces, and 15 digs.
• In the game against Utica, the Roos hit .185 as a team (55-26-157) while the Pioneers were barely positive at .021 (28-25-140). SUNY Canton also had 12 aces to Utica's nine and 75 digs while the Pioneers had 66.

 
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Oswego Tournament will continue tomorrow, September 20 with the Roos playing Brockport at 10 a.m. and capping off the weekend with a 2 p.m. game against Keuka.
   


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