MARCY, N.Y. – The SUNY Poly Wildcats won out this weekend to secure the top seed in the NEAC and the right to host the NEAC Championship Tournament. The Wildcats won their final three NEAC games against Cazenovia, Wells, and Keuka. This is the second time in as many years that the Wildcats finish as the one seed and host the Championship.
In the Wildcats first match they took down Cazenovia in four sets 25-10, 23-25, 25-9, 25-5. The Wildcats hit .274 as a team in the match led by senior Emma Larson (Miller Place, N.Y.) who hit a whopping .474 on 19 swings. She had 10 kills, six service aces, three block assists, and six digs. Melissa Krak (Canastota, N.Y.) had a match high 16 kills on 31 swings and racked up two block assists, eight digs, and a service ace. Setter Sydney Johnson (Nine Mile Falls, Wash.) had a weekend high 44 assists in the match.
The Wildcats beat Wells in in three sets their second game of the weekend 25-19, 25-19, 25-23. Again, the Wildcats hit well as a team finishing the match with a .217 hitting percentage. Cassandra Campion (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) had a phenomenal match for the Wildcats. She tied her career high with 11 kills on 16 swings for a career best .625 hitting percentage. Campion also had a solo block and a block assist in the match. Emma Larson and Ryenn Smith (Lyons, N.Y.) had 11 and nine kills respectively in the match. They each had 10 digs and Larson added a service ace to the mix. For Wells Anuhea Leite-Ah-Yo had a team high 11 kills and a match high 14 digs.
The Wildcats went in to Sunday's match with Keuka with the weekend sweep on their minds and did just that with a four set win over the Wolves 25-12, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20. Senior Ryenn Smith had a monster match for the Wildcats. She had a match high 17 kills and hit an impressive .333 on the attack. Smith had two service aces and tied teammate Finella Campanino () with a match high 11 digs. Melissa Krak had a match high three service aces and had 10 kills in the match. Emma Larson also had 10 kills in the match and added two service aces to her stat line. For Keuka Alyssa Rex had a match high 38 assists, two service aces, and six digs. Lauren Moelbert and Tally McDonald led the attack for Keuka with 13 and 10 kills respectively.
With the weekend sweep the Wildcats finish their NEAC Conference schedule with a 12-1 record putting them in sole possession of first place. The team will host the NEAC Championship Tournament beginning on either Friday, November 5th or Saturday, November 6th depending on the final seeding for the tournament. The Wildcats next match will be a non-conference road match against Union College on Tuesday, October 25th at 7:00 PM.