COBLESKILL, N.Y. – The SUNY Polytechnic Women's Volleyball Team (16-17, 7-5 NEAC) traveled to SUNY Cobleskill over the weekend for a non-conference tournament, their final tune-up before the NEAC Tournament save for a single match next Saturday at Oswego. The Wildcats fell to Rutgers-Newark and King's College on Friday before rebounding with a 3-0 sweep of host Cobleskill on Saturday.

In the team's first match on Friday they ran up against a 15-9 Rutgers-Newark team that was clicking on all cylinders. The Wildcats hung around in the first set, losing 25-20, but were unable to keep up in the final two sets as they fell 25-12, 25-12.

Rutgers-Newark had a great day at the net, making just 6 hitting errors to SUNY Poly's 23, good for a .386 hitting percentage as a team.

Emma Larson (Miller Place, N.Y. / Miller Place) led the Wildcats with 7 kills in defeat, while Megan Will (Remsen, N.Y. / Remsen) recorded 5 kills.

SUNY Poly's second match Friday night was much more competitive. Were it not for a close 30-28 loss in the first set, the Wildcats in all likelihood would have pushed the match to 5 sets. As it was SUNY Poly came back down 2-0 to force a fourth set by winning in the third, 25-22.

Phebe Lamont (Waterville, N.Y. / Waterville) had one of her best matches of the year, recording a team-high 12 kills while making just 3 errors in the match. She finished with a team-high .281 hitting percentage. Shelby Kostal (Greenport, N.Y. / Greenport) also played well with a team second-best 9 kills.

After a poor match against Rutgers-Newark in both the service and the serve-receive game, the Wildcats were excellent in both categories against King's College. As a team they recorded 13 aces and only 3 reception errors, significant improvements from Friday's earlier match.

Unfortunately for SUNY Poly the improvements were not enough to overmatch the hitters on the other side of the net. Katelyn Shifflet did the most damage, scoring 16 kills on only 2 errors. Emily Heimbecker followed her with 12 kills, and as a team the Lions out hit SUNY Poly .203 to .060.

With a fresh start on Saturday SUNY Poly was finally able to snap their losing streak, cruising to a 3-0 victory over the host Fighting Tigers of SUNY Cobleskill.

Junior and team co-captain Morgan Eberley (Utica, N.Y. / Whitesboro) led the way with 8 kills and only a single error. Phebe Lamont had a whopping 6 service aces, and the Wildcats won easily 25-15, 25-10, 25-8.

SUNY Polytechnic will have a chance to finish the regular season at .500 when they travel to Oswego this Saturday for a single match at noon.