SUNY Cortland Athletics

UNION, N.J. - Cortland women's volleyball head coach Kristin Baker earned a win in her Red Dragon debut as Cortland outlasted Kean University in five sets to open a quad meet hosted by the Cougars.
 
Cortland won the match 24-26, 25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 15-10, and the Red Dragons will face nationally 16th-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater at noon and Penn St. Harrisburg at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Penn St. Harrisburg upset Whitewater in four sets in Friday night's second match.
 
Lauren Millspaugh (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) led Cortland with a career-high 17 kills and only three errors in 24 attempts for a .583 attack percentage. She also paced the Red Dragons with six blocks. Kira Pirrera (Hauppauge/Smithtown West) finished with 13 kills and eight digs and Sanaiya Whitted (Poughkeepsie/Franklin D. Roosevelt) totaled 10 kills and five blocks.
 
Erica Arroyo (Nesconset/Smithtown West) chipped in with eight kills and eight digs. Melissa O'Connor (Hauppauge) finished with 29 assists, three aces and nine digs, Lily Coan (Sayville) handed out 15 assists, Bianca Sapano (Floral Park/Kellenberg Memorial) led the team with 18 digs, and Anna Lynch (Rochester/Our Lady of Mercy) added four blocks.
 
Cortland finished the match with a .192 team attack percentage, including a .412 mark (nine kills, two errors in 17 attempts) in the fifth set.
 
Kean (1-1) was led by Cayley Elena Morrision with 19 kills and Ashley Torok with 18 kills. Rae Marrero recorded 51 assists and Annabelle Valencia had 17 digs. The Cougars hit .158 for the match.
 
Cortland rallied from an 18-13 deficit in the first set to take a 22-21 lead, and later erased a 24-22 deficit with a Kean service error and an Arroyo kill to tie the score at 24-24. Kean, however, scored the last two points on a pair of Red Dragon misplays. Cortland fought back in the second set from a 10-6 deficit to take a 13-10 lead. The set remained close the rest of the way, with Millspaugh's kill eventually giving the Red Dragons a 25-23 win.
 
In the third set, Cortland led 9-4 early and held a 21-14 lead before Kean clawed back with a 9-3 run to pull within 24-23. Millspaugh, however, again ended the set with kill. Kean controlled the fourth set, racing out to a 14-6 lead and never being seriously threatened.
 
Cortland never trailed in the fifth set. The teams were tied at 4-4 before the Red Dragons scored three of the next four points. Later in the set, Millspaugh's kill put Cortland up 12-9, and with the score 13-10 Cortland closed out the match with a Pirrera kill and a Kean attack error.