COBLESKILL, NY – The SUNYIT women's volleyball team went 3-1 during NEAC Pool Play held at SUNY Cobleskill this past Friday and Saturday in its first conference matches of the season.  The Lady Wildcats are now 7-4 overall.

SUNYIT began play with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-13) victory over host Cobleskill Friday.  Junior Juleah Vedder (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville), the reigning Student-Athlete of the Week, had match highs of 21 kills and 17 digs to lead the Wildcats to victory.  Freshman Taviot Jackowski (LaFayette, NY/LaFayette) tallied 18 assists, while senior Nicole Higgins (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) registered 14 assists, four kills and four digs.  Freshman Holly Loveless (Brewerton, NY/Paul V. Moore) had six kills, four digs and three solo blocks.

Vedder then led SUNYIT to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-19) sweep over Morrisville with match highs of 19 kills, 13 digs and four serve aces.  Junior Kourtni Pratt (Henrietta, NY/Rush-Henrietta) had a match-high 20 assists to go along with five digs, while freshman Kaitlyn Harrington (Central Square, NY/Paul V. Moore) had 10 kills and 12 digs.

The Wildcats would fall to Keuka 1-3 (21-25, 21-25, 25-19, 17-25) to start Saturday's action, despite Vedder again leading all players with 27 kills to go along with 19 digs.  Jackowski had a match-high 20 digs, while Harrington had 14 kills, 18 digs and a game-high four serve aces.  Higgins finished with 31 assists.

The Wildcats rebounded with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-13) victory over Cazenovia to close out the pool play.  Vedder had match highs of 12 kills and 14 digs to prove why she is the two-time NEAC Player of the Year by finishing as the leader in kills in all four SUNYIT matches and in digs in three matches.  Senior Courtney Ruether (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone) had 10 kills, Harrington had 10 digs, eight kills and two serve aces and Higgins had a match-high 18 assists.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Friday, October 1 for the Oneonta Tournament.  Their opponents and match times have yet to be determined.