The Oswego State volleyball team had an opportunity to set themselves up with a good finish on the final day of competition at the SUNYAC West Division pool play Saturday, Sept. 20 in Max Ziel Gymnasium. However, the Lakers dropped their final two matches of the weekend, putting them in fourth place going into next month's second round of divisional play in Buffalo.
Oswego (7-12 overall, 2-3 SUNYAC West) opened Saturday play with a 25-18, 25-12, 22-25 loss to SUNY Fredonia in the morning match. Despite the Blue Devils leading from the start in taking the opening two sets, The Lakers came into the third set energized, jumping out to a 6-2 lead and, eventually stretching it out to a 22-17 advantage, before Fredonia scored a pair of points on possession changes, then ran off six straight points to take the match.
The trio of senior Amanda Cipriano (Solvay) and freshmen Jessica Isgro (Brockport) and Margaret Thorpe (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) tallied seven kills apiece, with Cipriano finishing with a .600 hitting percentage and a team-leading 22 digs. Isgro compiled eight digs along with senior libero Beth Widzinski, who also served for a pair of aces. Freshman setter Katie VanKessel (Milbrook) tallied 22 assists, five digs, and three kills.
The Lakers finished the afternoon with a four-game defeat to SUNY Geneseo. Both teams split the first two sets, with the Knights taking set one, 25-19, and Oswego posting a 25-23 triumph in game two. Geneseo won a hard-fought fourth set, 25-21, before locking up the match with a 25-25 triumph in the fourth and final set.
Cipriano totaled 11 kills, 18 digs, and a service ace, while Thorpe tacked on eight kills (.273 hitting percentage). Isgro (13 digs, .273 hitting percentage) and VanKessel (15 digs) each tallied seven kills, with Isgro also serving for four aces, while Widzinski posted a team-high 25 digs.
After the opening round of pool play, Fredonia is in first place with a 5-0 record, winning all of its matches in straight sets. Brockport is in second place with a 4-1 mark, followed by Geneseo at 3-2. After Oswego, Buffalo State is fourth at 1-4, while Morrisville State failed to win a match on the weekend.
All five teams will complete SUNYAC pool play on October 16-18 (Thursday-Saturday) at Buffalo State, after which the top three teams will join the top three squads in the East Division to play for the SUNYAC Championship on November 6-8 at the site of the West Division champion.
Oswego will play its first regular-season match in Ziel Gym on Wednesday, September 24, taking on Utica College in a 7 p.m. matchup.
