Montclair, NJ – For the second straight night, the Montclair State volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking five-set loss as the Red Hawks fell to Cortland, 3-2 at the Panzer Athletic Center on Friday evening.
Senior
CARLY WATERMAN posted a double-double with 17 kills and 16 digs, however, MSU lost its third straight, falling to 1-5 on the season, three of those defeats coming in five sets.
Nicole Van Pelt led all players with 20 kills for the Red Dragons (4-1), who snapped a two-match losing streak to Montclair State in the first meeting between the teams since 2018. Hannah Southcott added 19 kills along with 18 digs.
Montclair won the first set 25-23 with the Red Dragons taking the next two 25-20 and 25-16 to go up 2-1 in the match. The Red Hawks forced the decisive set winning 26-24 as it took advantage of 10 hitting errors by Cortland.
In the final set, the lead changed hands several times with MSU taking a 9-7 lead on a kill by Waterman. The Red Dragons answered with two Van Pelt kills, knotting the set at 9-9.
NADYA ACKERMANIAN and Waterman each posted kills in a three-point run making the score 12-9 however back came Cortland. Van Pelt notched the first point with the last of her 20 kills with Southcott adding three consecutive for a 13-12 Red Dragon advantage.
Ackermanian tied it back up with a kill, but Cortland went back on top as Meadow Wittman finished off a Maya Owens feed setting up match point, which was decided on a Red Hawk hitting error.
Wittman and Megan McMahon had 27 and 21 assists, respectively while Carle Haegele had 27 digs. Meadow had 15 digs with Alexa Gudez totaling seven blocks.
KATELYN MONAGHAN matched her career-high with 30 digs as the Red Hawks got 11 from
KATIE RODMAN.
DELANEY ST. PIERRE put up 44 assists and
GIANNA ARIAS led the way with eight blocks. Ackermanian recorded 12 kills and
LEAH HIGGINS 10.
Montclair returns to action on Tuesday, September 14 as it opens NJAC play. The Red Hawks host Rutgers-Camden at the Panzer Athletic Center with first serve scheduled for 7:00 pm.
