UTICA, NY – The SUNYIT women's volleyball team overcame a 2-1 deficit to defeat local rival Hamilton College 3-2 (17-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 15-6) in a thriller at the Campus Center Gymnasium Tuesday night.  Both teams now stand at 4-3 overall.

The Lady Wildcats started off slow, as Hamilton built a 14-7 lead in game one before going on to win 25-17.  Game two was much closer, as the lead continuously changed hands early on before being tied at 13 all.  The Wildcats would then build a 19-15 lead before Hamilton stormed back to go up 21-20 and force a SUNYIT timeout, but the Wildcats would come out on fire and score five straight points to pick up the hard-fought victory.

Hamilton was in control for most of game three, building a comfortable 22-14 lead and avoiding a small SUNYIT rally to win 25-21 and go up two games to one.  SUNYIT would answer in game four, holding the lead for the entire match and winning 25-22 to force a decisive game five.  That's where the Wildcats got hot, registering seven kills and committing no hitting errors to win 15-6 and seal the come-from-behind victory.

Junior Juleah Vedder (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville), the reigning NEAC Student-Athlete of the Week, had a monster game, finishing with 23 kills and 28 digs.  Freshman Kaitlyn Harrington (Central Square, NY/Paul V. Moore) had a double-double of 10 kills and 22 digs, while senior Courtney Reuther (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone) had 20 digs and five kills.  Senior Nicole Higgins (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) tallied 29 assists to go along with 13 digs and five kills, while freshman Taviot Jackowski (LaFayette, NY/LaFayette) registered 16 digs and 11 assists.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday, September 24 when they travel to Cobleskill for a handful of NEAC conference games.  SUNYIT will first take on Cobleskill at noon before squaring off against Morrisville at 2:00 pm, and will then take on Keuka at 10:00 am on Saturday before taking on Cazenovia at 12:00 pm.