BUFFALO, N.Y. – In his first season with the Oswego State volleyball team (12-18, 2-4 SUNYAC West), head coach J.J. O'Connell has led the Lakers to their first State University of New York Athletic Conference playoff berth since 1996. Oswego State's first-round matchup with New Paltz (31-7, 6-2 SUNYAC East) on Friday at 3 p.m. is the Oswego State Game of the Week.

The Lakers come into the match with a two-match losing streak, and having gone 2-8 in their last 10 games. The Hawks have won seven straight, including a victory over No. 11-ranked Cortland, and are 8-2 in their last 10 matches.

However, the Lakers have saved their best volleyball for the biggest situations, beating Brockport twice in conference matches to snag the third and final playoff spot in the SUNYAC West. The Lakers dropped just one set to the Golden Eagles, as they recorded their first two conference wins since 2008.

It was an impressive showing from the Lakers, just one year removed from their 7-22 campaign in 2011-12. O'Connell knows scoring a win over New Paltz is going to take a flawless performance, but that isn't stopping him from preparing his squad.

In their only match against the Hawks this season on Sept. 15, the Lakers were beaten handily in the first two sets before pushing New Paltz to the limit in a 25-22 third and final set. The Hawks more than doubled the Lakers in kills (37-18), while also registering fewer errors (18-21) than Oswego State. The Lakers steadily improved throughout the match though, recording nine kills to only six hitting errors in the final set.

O'Connell says the Lakers need to find the level they played with in the third set again on Friday.

“I think it's just about scoring,” O'Connell said. “We need to put some pressure on them with our serving and then it's just about kills. We have to keep their attacks off the ground and find a way to counter-attack. We've been working on a few aspects of that in practice this week.”

The Lakers were smart to familiarize themselves with the Hawks this season, as they haven't faced New Paltz since Oct. 18, 2002. On that day, the Lakers defeated the Hawks in straight sets. However, the Hawks have come a long way since then.

New Paltz has won 26 or more matches in every season since 2004. Oswego State hasn't won that many matches since 1994, when it claimed 42 victories. Since 2004, the Lakers are 105-176, while the Hawks are 228-85 during the stretch.

Previous records won't matter when Friday rolls along, but the Hawks are definitely a heavy favorite heading into the match. The Lakers will be looking to counter the New Paltz offense, which according to O'Connell, moves faster than any the Lakers see during the course of the year.

“We're going to have to be pretty clean,” O'Connell said. “They're a nice team with some talented upperclassmen and some freshmen, so we're going to have to play clean and dig a lot of balls because they run a faster offense than what we're used to. It'll put some pressure on our blocking and our middle backs, so we're going to have to dig, serve and attack pretty cleanly.”

If the Lakers are able to pull off the upset, they will challenge Buffalo State at 3 p.m. on Saturday for a place in the SUNYAC Championship.  If not, O'Connell is happy with his team's performance this season.

“They worked hard all year,” he said. “Mentally, we're still here. We're ready to go and still competing. We're excited for the SUNYAC opportunity. It's a pretty good step. It's where we want to go with the program.”

“We want to always be a program that competes for the championship, so to get it in the first year sets the right tone. These girls really wanted to make a mark on the SUNYAC before they graduated, especially the seniors and juniors, so to get it done in the first year is a huge step.”