KEUKA, N.Y. – The College at Brockport Volleyball team surpassed the 30 win plateau with its 30th and 31st victories on Saturday to conclude the 2015 regular season posting the program's best winning percentage in school history.
The Golden Eagles will head into the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Playoffs next weekend with an overall record of 31-1 and a .969 winning percentage. The winning percentage replaces the long standing record from 1991 in which the Golden Eagles finished 41-7 with a winning percentage of .854. The Green and Gold went undefeated in conference play and will host the SUNYAC tournament which begins Friday Nov. 6, as Brockport earned a bye with its first match scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m.
Brockport won in three consecutive sets against both Morrisville and tournament host Keuka defeating the Mustangs 25-9, 25-15 and 25-14 before beating the Wolfpack 25-18, 25-16 and 25-21.
Kayla Barber led the team in hitting in the victory over Morrisville posting eight kills with only a single error in 13 attempts for a spectacular hitting percentage of .538. Brianna Richardson finished with a slightly higher percentage of .571 as she finished the match with four kills and zero errors, but the highest percentage came from freshman DeAnna Ortiz-Whittemore. Ortiz-Whittemore tallied five kills, zero errors and a .625 hitting percentage in just a single set of play.
Noelle Poloncarz enabled a productive offense with 21 assists while Rachel Fiser added six more. The Golden Eagle offense hit .250 during the match victory while Maddie Taylor and Sam Holdredge combined for 28 digs.
Against Keuka, Poloncarz led an even more potent attack. She finished the match with 27 assists while Brockport's hitting percentage on the match was an unheard of .346 as the team's offense was highly effective. Ortiz-Whittemore led the Green and Gold with 11 kills while Richardson remained errorless with four more kills, duplicating her efficiency with a .571 clip. Senior Hannah Sawicki was perfect against the Wolfpack with two kills in as many attempts.
On the defensive side Taylor again led the team with 16 digs while Barber contributed 11. The Green and Gold totaled four blocks with Richardson leading the way with three assisted blocks.
Sam Holdredge was named "Hero Sports Gem of the Week" after her performance last week and is up for "D3 Hero of the Week." Cast your votes here to secure the honor for Holdredge.
Saturday Nov. 7 will mark the next match for Brockport, as the Green and Gold will either face No. 4 seed Oneonta or No. 5 seed Cortland in the SUNYAC semifinals. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Golden Eagles scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking the "Brockport Golden Eagles" Facebook page.
