Cardinals split home weekend

BY REBEKAH RILEY Staff Writer

The Plattsburgh Cardinals volleyball team hosted its first home games in over 30 days, playing the Oswego Lakers Friday, Oct. 6. The Cardinals won in four sets, 3-1 earning its first SUNYAC win. The Cards hosted the Cortland Red Dragons and lost in 3 sets, Saturday, Oct. 7.

The Lakers won the first set 25-19 in a tough, back and forth game. The Cardinals brought the score to 1819, but four straight Lakers points secured the win.

The Cards won the second set 25-21. Plattsburgh was strong right off the bat with a kill from senior Emma Rivers, setting the tone for a dominant set.

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The third set, the Cards won again 25-17. The Cards started out with two kills, one from sophomore Jeanette Ashong and another from first-year Darby Collyear. The Lakers had an attack error and the Cards led the set 3-0. However, the Lakers fought back and matched the Cards 3-3. First-year Iris Mulvey had three kills on the way to an 11-10 lead. The Lakers scored two points before the Cards came back with four points, two of them from errors made by the Lakers and the other two points were a kill each from sophomores Maggie

Lyon and Ashong. The Lakers were only able to squeeze in three more points before the Cardinals closed them out.

The Cardinals won the fourth set 25-18. The Cards started with three points, two of them were errors made by the Lakers and then the third point was from a kill from firstyear Liya Girma. The Lakers scored once before the Cards one-upped them by scoring five points, with a kill from Collyear and two kills from Lyon, then two aces from Girma. The score was 8-1. From there, the game was tit-for-tat, and the

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These seniors were the embodiment of effort and hard work and the younger players on the team clearly followed their lead.

“Ever since I came here, it’s just been fun all the time. I love playing on the field with all the girls. I’m grateful that I get this opportunity, because everyday we go out and we work as hard as we can, it’s just fun,” Myers said. Myers began her collegiate career at Nazareth College but played her other three years here and was an excellent addition to the team throughout her career.

Cards pulled out another win.

The Cardinals’ success was not matched the following day. The Red Dragons won the first set 25-22. The Cards were behind the Red Dragons from the beginning. The Cards fought to stay close, and it did, but it never matched the score the Red Dragons put up.

The second set, the Cardinals were thrown off its game when the Red Dragons came out guns blazing, winning the set 25-10.

The third set, the Red Dragons put an end to the game, winning 25-12.

Playing at home for the first time this conference season, the Cardinals used the crowd to its advantage.

“It definitely does help. Knowing we are playing on our own court, because it is a space that we are always in, it’s a place that we’re comfortable. But I still think that we also do a good job playing away games,” Collyear said. The game against Cortland was not only a tough physical game, but also a big mental challenge for the team.

“These are times I’ll never forget. I’ll treasure these moments. I’ve been playing soccer my whole life, and to make it to this level and this being my ending is a sad moment, but also a joyful time,” Fitzgerald said. Fitzgerald was a standout player during her career at Plattsburgh, being named to the All-SUNYAC first team as a defender during her junior year. She contributed both as a scorer and a passer.

Senior Day does represent the closing of a door, but it also allows many players to sit back and reflect on their good memories and share those moments with their families, coaches and teammates.

Through some fantastic teamwork, they were able to secure the win.

“It’s definitely a lot of strategizing, me and Ava together,” Mitchell said. “She walks me through it and she knows, like ‘Do your lob game, do your lob game,’ and my lob game sets her up for a good shot. So we definitely worked together to make that happen.”

Henn is grateful to them for their work throughout the season, and remains excited to see them grow in upcoming competitions.

“Oh my gosh, I could not be more happy and excited to have the both of them on our team,” Henn said. “For them to be put in a starting lineups and maybe playing in spots they normally haven’t: like Jacklin played a little doubles in highschool but was mainly a singles player, and then Ava was mainly a doubles player — so for her to in turn play both, and do singles and doubles and excel in both, it is just so exciting to see.”

The Cardinals head into the offseason looking ahead. The losses have inspired many athletes on the roster to look for ways to refine their game so that they may come back and challenge the top end of the SUNYAC conference and make the Final Four.

“We need to hit more outside of practice, get together out of season, hit more, and work with our coaches on just rallying for longer. These teams don't make as many mistakes as we do, so we need to make less mistakes,”

Junior captain Hallie Hurwitz said. Plattsburgh State ends its season with heads held high despite finishing with back-to-back losses. The team knows it took great strides in competing with the top of the conference.

“I'm viewing this season as a success. I mean, it didn't pan out the way we wanted it to. Of course, we wanted to make the Final Four and get there, but while we didn't achieve that, I still think that the drive is still there. The want is still there. The girls are going to come back again, hungry for it again next season,” Henn said.

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MSOC - Seven seniors say goodbye on Senior Day vs. Buff St. Oct. 14.

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MHKY - The Cardinals will start the season with 27 rostered players.

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VB - Payton Zophy is on the verge on 1,000 career digs, a milestone.

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TEN - Jacklin Mitchell won 10 singles matches, the most since 2018.

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XC - Graham Richard and Marissa Colvin were both named SUNYAC runners of the week.

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“I think it was a really big mental game, because we went in knowing that we were a great team and it was gonna be a good competition. For the first set, we fought really hard and we saw what we could do, and how great we can play against them. But it was like each mistake we would kind of dwell on, so it was hard to get that out of our head,” Ashong said.

Head Coach Kelsea Healis knows what to take away from the loss.

“They are a scrappy team so I think our offense not being able to find the court was one of our weaknesses of that day” Healis said.

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The Cardinals broke the tie in the 83rd minute as junior wing Modou Badjie drew a penalty after being tripped from behind by a Blue Devil. The Cardinals went with Coughlan for the important kick and Coughlan delivered, scoring his second goal of the day and taking the lead for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals finished a dramatic game. Cardinals Head Coach Chris Taylor was confident in his team's ability to come

The Cards beat the Potsdam Bears 3-1 Wednesday, Oct. 11. Next, Plattsburgh will be playing the nonconference Vermont State University-Johnson Tuesday, Oct. 17. Having games in the middle of the week is something the team hasn’t done yet this year.

“I don't think we’ve had a game in the middle of the week. We’re gonna have classes and stuff and then we’ll have a game. I don't think it should change anything like how we play,” Collyear said.

The game against Vermont State University-Johnson is not a SUNYAC game, and with less pressure, the team can use the game to learn.

“I feel like because it’s not a conference game, it’ll be nice to play more comfort- back and eventually close the game.

“It might be three of the last four games we’ve gone behind and we’ve come back to at least tie in all of them,” Taylor said. “I think that speaks to the competitive level of the guys, their competitive mindset, because when you fall behind in a game you can make adjustments but ultimately, winning mentality takes over.”

Coughlan won SUNYAC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in his career.

“We just know we gotta stay in every game, compete with every team,” Cough- ably without having the fear of making mistakes, but still playing to the best of our abilities.” Ashong said. lan said. “Just about getting that first goal and then just going from there, not focusing on winning the game right away.”

Healis agreed, saying it will help with SUNYAC games going forward.

“It gives us a chance to try out a few things that we’re seeing during conference play, but we don't want to risk it during conference play to make a chance or to see some differences, so it's nice to have that opportunity,” Healis said.

The Cards will be on the road again, and back to conference play, taking on the Red Dragons of Oneonta Friday, Oct. 20. Then, the Cardinals will play the New Paltz Hawks Saturday, Oct. 21.

With the win, the Cardinals now have had the best team start in the past 20 years. The team is staying focused and keeping a one-gameat-a-time mentality to close out the year.

“I think, to be honest, it’s about one game at a time, one day at a time. We don’t look ahead from day one of preseason, we don’t need to talk about winning, we don’t need to talk about records or playoffs or championships because they’re just outcomes to us,”

Brian Coughlan's two goal game against the Fredonia Blue Devils Oct. 7 propelled the Cardinals to its second SUNYAC win of the season.

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Taylor said.

The Cardinals took its first loss of the year to the Cortland Red Dragons, 0-2 at home Oct. 11. The nationally-ranked No. 11 Cortland top the SUNYAC with a 11-2-1 overall record. Plattsburgh will host the 8-3-2 Buffalo State Bengals for its Senior Day Oct. 14.

Wing Modou Badjie says the team is staying ready for these upcoming conference games.

“We’re ready for a fight and hopefully, we’ll come out with a win,” Badjie said.

The Cardinals did its seniors right with its second SUNYAC win of the season. A Nora Fitzgerald goal keeps Plattsburgh alive in the conference.

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