UTICA, N.Y. - The SUNY Poly women's volleyball team traveled across town for a hometown rivalry match against Utica College on Thursday. The match looked as if it was going to be a win for Utica early on, but the will and determination of the Wildcats helped them battle back from a 0-2 deficit to win the match 3-2. The Wildcats win streak remains intact with the victory and is now at 17 straight.

Utica took the first two sets from the Wildcats 25-22 and 25-17, but as the Wildcats went into the third set down, they started to heat up. The third set was a nail biter as the 'Cats squeaked out a 27-25 win to force a fourth. The team caught fire in the fourth set and scorched the Pioneers 25-16 to force a fifth set. In the fifth set the Wildcats nail down the victory with a 15-13 win.

Post-match Head Coach Dan Liberto had this to say about the win: "Coming off of a long break we ran into a scrappy Utica team. They played very well and we are fortunate to have come out on top. We are looking forward to this weekend as we resume conference play".

While it may not have been the cleanest or the prettiest of match for the Wildcats, we saw some great play by freshman Ryenn Smith (Lyons, N.Y. / Lyons Sr./Jr. HS). She recorded a career high 22 kills. Emma Larson (Miller Place, N.Y. / Miller Place HS) had herself a solid 17 kill, 26 dig match. Shelby Kostal (Greenport, N.Y. / Greenport HS) had a career high 18 digs and 3 service aces for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats will head to Keuka College this weekend to play in a NEAC pool play event. They will be matching up with Keuka and Wells on Saturday and Cazenovia on Sunday. Saturday's matches are scheduled for 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM followed by a 12:00 PM match on Sunday.