By Christian Tufino
The SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals women’s volleyball team picked up a 3–1 victory over the SUNY Morrisville Mustangs on Halloween night. After dropping the first set 18-25, the Cardinals regrouped and found their rhythm battling back to win the next three sets 27-25, 25-23, and 25-22. The team refused to let its early mistakes haunt them as junior outside hitter Iris Mulvey led the way with 14 kills and 16 digs leading the way for a steady match.
With the win, Plattsburgh improves its record to 9-14 overall, and 2-6 in SUNYAC play.
Several Cardinals stood out as big contributors that night. Following that Junior Darby Collyear with 8 kills and Junior Liya Girma with 6 kills. Freshman Emily O’Brien facilitated the team’s attack and dished out 15 assists and Sophomore Anabella Almeida recorded 13 assists.
On the defensive end, Grima led the team with 19 digs. Mulvey added 16 digs and Senior Bridget Ryan recorded 14 digs to anchor the defense. Senior Kyleigh Ganz recorded the teams sole block.
Iris, Girma, Bridget, Anabella and O’Brien are determined to bring Plattsburgh a victory. Iris has already scored 215 kills and 220 digs which dwarfs her previous seasons stats of 127 kills and 57 digs. Girma recorded 259 kills and 221 digs so far this season already passing her 2024 season stats of 214 kills and 219 digs.
Bridget has recorded an impressive 360 digs this season passing her previous seasons record of 219 digs. Anabella has a recorded 392 assists overshadowing her previous seasons record of 209 assists. O’Brien in her first season has already recorded 386 assists showing her undeniable impact on the team.
Leading Morrisville’ s offense Sophomore Isabella Eskierka achieved 15 kills and 2 blocks followed by Sophomore Samantha Siedlecki who recorded 11 kills and 2 blocks. Creating chances for their team Freshman Keely Shearer had 19 assists and Sophomore Cassandra Bellmore had 14 assists. Defensively, Morrisville Senior Kayla Sheasby achieved 18 digs followed by Eskierka recorded 12 digs and Bellmore provided an additional 10 digs.
This win set a tone of resilience for the season as through teamwork and grit the Cards were able to pull out a 3-1 win.
