It was a huge weekend for the Geneseo volleyball team. Winning their matches on Friday Oct. 25 and Saturday Oct. 26 solidified their status as the SUNYAC No. 1 seed, giving them home-court advantage for the postseason and kept them undefeated in the SUNYAC. The Knights faced SUNY Cortland and SUNY Oswego and won both matches three sets to one.
In the match against Cortland, the Knights split the first two sets with the Red Dragons but managed to notch wins in the next two, securing the match victory. Senior outside hitter Grace Cergol totaled 21 kills and 13 digs to lead the Knights in their win. She became only the second Knight in program history to surpass 1,500 kills; she has 1,505 over the last four years. Senior outside hitter Abby May finished with 14 kills to surpass Stephanie Wales ‘99 for 13th on the program’s all-time kills list with 887 as of that match. Five Knights reached double-figures in digs, including senior libero Sam Mendelsohn with a match-high 23.
Set scores in the match against Oswego were 25-22, 25-22, 17-25 and 25-19. Once again, Geneseo managed to overcome a defeat in the third set defeat to win the match. This match brought several achievements for some of the Knights. Mendelsohn was credited with a four-set career-high 34 digs. Her 484 digs this fall are the ninth-highest single-season total by a Knight. Cergol notched her 1,518th career kill to move within 30 of the program record—1,558 totaled by Kate Barth ‘08. May became the 13th player in program history to eclipse the 900-kill plateau with 902 to date.
Junior outside hitter Alex Frank explained that clinching home-court advantage this past weekend was more impactful than what some may perceive. “This weekend felt great, especially knowing that we are taking the SUNYAC tournament back home,” she said. “Being 9-0 in the conference in regular season two years in a row proved to ourselves and the rest of the SUNYAC that what we have been able to do is no fluke.”
Frank also discussed how the Knights will be preparing for the upcoming SUNYAC Tournament. “We are getting ready for the championship weekend by getting in each day and working to just make one thing better than the previous day,” she said. “We are solid in our motivation and excitement going into the big weekend, so we are now just tuning up some little things that will push us to the next level.”
Senior middle blocker Kat Vernon mentioned how certain young players have made an impact. “Grace Thomas, our first-year setter, has been playing incredibly well. She gets touches on everything and her defense is relentless, also [junior middle blocker] Kiersten [Colvin] has really stepped it up and has been working on all of her shots and has been really successful,” she said.
Before the SUNYAC championship weekend, the Knights hit the road to take on Ohio Wesleyan at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pa. on Friday Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. The match against host Carnegie Mellon is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m.