SUSQUEHANNA, PA - The SUNY Brockport women's volleyball team defeated UMASS Boston three sets to none on Friday night in the first game of the season at the 17^th Annual River Hawk Classic Tournament hosted by Susquehanna University.
 
One of Many: SUNY Brockport first-year Head Coach Kate Isaksen picked up the first win in her collegiate coaching debut against the Beacons on Friday night. As a team, the Golden Eagles racked up a total of 37 kills, and 88 attacks for a .273 hitting percentage. 36 points were helped through assists while the Green and Gold raked up a total of 50 points through three sets of play. The team also had two total solo blocks and 10 assisted blocks along with six service aces against UMass Boston.
Where We Last Left Off: Fifth-year senior and reigning All-American honorable mention Andrea Coyle lead Brockport's offensive charge as the outside hitter tallied a total of 10 kills on 24 attempts with one block assist for 10.5 points.
 
Let the Young Guns Shine: Another shining debut occurred on the court when another outside hitter and Rockledge, Florida native, freshman Alexis Sison tallied nine points with nine kills on 15 attempts for an outstanding .533 hitting percentage.
 
The hitters were doing work as senior hitter Jordan Thompson from Ashburn, Virginia was the team's best all-around player in the match where she earned 12.0 points with eight kills, two block assists, and two service aces along with nine digs. Libero/defensive specialist Madalyn Bowen also had a great match where she too had nine digs. Freshman Jayda Pyle saw her first collegiate action tonight where she finished fourth on the team with 5.5 points from five kills and one block assist. Another night of firsts happened when freshman Alenna Williamson, from Roanoke, VA tallied the first kill of her collegiate career against the Beacons.
 
1^st Set: The Golden Eagles took the lead 1-0 in the first set with a kill from Sison before the Beacons took a 2-1 lead over Brockport. From there, it was a back-and-forth battle before the Golden Eagles trailed 14-8 to UMASS Boston. The women slowly fought back as an attack error from the Beacons along with three straight points from Jordan Thompson helped Brockport come back to with two points at 14-12. Shortly after trailing 19-17, the Green and Gold regained the lead for the first time since the first points of the set. Tied at 22-22, Brockport would earn three straight points and wouldn't trail again for the rest of the night.
 
2^nd Set: Getting out to a 2-0 lead to start set two, Brockport just kept on cruise control. With a 9-5 lead, the Golden Eagles would win the next 17-of-22 points. Leading 21-10, the team would finish set two by scoring four straight points as Kerri McHale closed it out on a service ace to make it 25-10 and put Brockport up two sets to none.
 
3^rd Set: Once again getting out to a 2-0 lead, the women would go ahead in the third set with its largest lead being 19-10. It wouldn't be without UMASS Boston slowly chipping away to come back to within five points at one point in the set, as the last nine points were a back-and-forth battle between Brockport and the Beacons. However, Brockport would end the game with the victory by a final third set score of 25-19 and winning the match 3-0.
 
Coach's Quote: "It feels good to get the first win in the books," Isaksen commented. "We started a little slow, but they fought through it. I was happy with how they worked as a team, and we were able to play our game in sets two and three"

What's Ahead: SUNY Brockport will now look to first play Chatham University at 3 pm, followed by No. 22 Susquehanna University at 5 pm on Saturday, September 3rd. Those two teams will play in the second match of Friday night's opening matches of the 17^th Annual River Hawk Classic.