Box Score NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Engaging in its most heated battle of the 2013 campaign, the Plattsburgh State volleyball came up just short in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Volleyball Championship Tournament semifinals as host institution and No. 1 overall seed New Paltz earned a 3-2 victory on Saturday night at the Hawk Center.

The evenly-matched squads battled through the only match of the tournament so far that hasn't been won in three sets, and the Hawks move on to face Buffalo State for the SUNYAC Tournament crown on Sunday at noon.

Plattsburgh State (17-15) took the Hawks (32-5) to five sets (25-13, 20-25, 25-19, 24-26, 15-8) once again as the Cardinals were the only team to do so through the course of the SUNYAC regular season. New Paltz outhit Plattsburgh State by a slim margin, .155 to .121 during the match.  

Greeting the Cardinals in the first frame was a well-rested New Paltz squad which was nothing short of dominant during the entirety of the set. It was extremely difficult for the Cardinals to get anything going on the offensive end, as their first three points of the frame were the result of errors by the Hawks.

Six New Paltz players accumulated a total of 13 terminations as the Hawks saw their lead grow to as much as 20-8. Although Plattsburgh State did finally regain its footing on offense, there wasn't enough of it to overcome the large New Paltz lead, and the home team earned a lopsided set one triumph to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

An error by the Hawks to lead off the second frame gave Plattsburgh State its first lead of the match, but the Cardinals were still in the process of trying to solve their opponent's attack scheme. The Hawks hiked up their lead to as many as five points (12-7) before Plattsburgh State turned things around. 

Down 14-10, the sophomore tandem of Laura Diehl and Kristen Marchisotto energized their squad with a block that began a 5-0 surge for the visitors. From that point on, the Cardinals would not trail in the set. With the set knotted at 16, Plattsburgh State saw its offense come around for the first time. 

Sophomore Jeanette Braun floored a kill before junior Maggie Schrantz blasted down a pair of terminations. The Cardinals' 4-0 spurt culminated with a service ace from Rosi Cummings. With the momentum in their corner, Plattsburgh State finished off the set with back-to-back kills by Diehl and Cummings, giving the visitors a 25-20 win and tying the match at one set each.

The game of call and response continued into the third set as New Paltz jumped out to a 9-2 lead to begin the action. Kristen Marchisotto put down a pair of service aces to help Plattsburgh State pull within three points (10-7), but New Paltz extended their edge to 17-10 with Alli Coleman recording two of the Hawks 12 service aces during the stretch. 

Even though the Cardinals closed to within four points (22-18) down the stretch, the Hawks had simply built up too much of a lead, and the home team took the set 25-20 to earn a 2-1 advantage in the match. 

With their backs against the wall, things couldn't have started out better for the Cardinals in set number four. Meghan Clifford came up with a service ace while Diehl and Cummings put down kills as part of a 5-1 spurt for the visitors in the early goings of the frame. 

The Hawks, though, were eager to try and close out the match in four sets, and used three consecutive kills by Becca Borquist during a 4-0 run to tie the score at five points each. Plattsburgh State maintained a lead of as many as two points before New Paltz took a 17-16 advantage. That particular lead, though, was short lived as the Cardinals employed a 4-0 run that concluded with another ace from Marchisotto to go back up by three.

New Paltz stormed back time and time again, eventually knotting the set at 23, but terminations by Braun, Diehl and Schrantz forced a winner-take-all fifth set. 

Plattsburgh State used kills by Clifford and Schrantz to help it take a 3-1 lead in the deciding set, but the Hawks buckled down and embarked on a backbreaking 10-2 surge to give them an 11-5 lead. A termination from Cummings and an attack error by New Paltz allowed Plattsburgh State to creep within four points, but New Paltz would take four of the next five points to move on to the SUNYAC Tournament championship match.

Playing in her final collegiate match, Cummings was nothing short of impressive, flooring a match-high 17 kills to go along with 22 digs and a block assist. Senior Amanda Wickers came up with a team-high 30 digs during the marathon match while Marchisotto totaled four aces to go along with a team-high 21 assists.

Diehl and Schrantz amassed 11 kills apiece with the latter completing a double-double with 17 digs. Clifford added 20 assists for the Cardinals. 

Borquist, Katy Herbst and Morgan Roessler racked up 13 kills each to lead a balanced New Paltz attack. Marissa King added a match-high 51 assists while Carrie Hack racked up a match-high 35 digs. The Hawks made seven blocks compared to two by the Cardinals. 

Although they were unable to emerge as the victorious squad, the Cardinals have very little to hang their heads about. Plattsburgh State wrapped up its 2013 campaign with a 17-15 mark - the first time it has concluded a season above the .500 mark since 1998. Additionally, the Cardinals were competing in their first SUNYAC Volleyball Championship Tournament since 2003 after posting a 6-3 record in league play. Only one other edition of the Cardinals amassed more conference wins than the 2013 iteration. 

As for Cummings, the Plattsburgh, N.Y., product wraps up her collegiate career with 1,183 kills, which includes 437 this season. That single-season mark is the third-highest in the history of the program. Wickers, who also took part in her final match as a collegian, finished her career with 926 digs.