Oneonta, NY. The SUNY Oneonta volleyball team dropped a mid-week matchup against the Morrisville Mustangs, 3-2. The Red Dragons fall to 5-8, and the Mustangs improved to 8-2.

The Red Dragons opened up the match with the serve, they went on to lose the first two points to fall behind 0-2. They rallied back for five points off the serve of senior Justine Abbate (Massapequa/Massapequa) to bring the match to 5-2 in Oneonta's favor. After battling back and forth, the Mustang's started to pull away off of Sam Wolf's serve to force Oneonta to call a timeout, 13-16. The Mustang's continued to pull away taking a 14-21 lead. The Red Dragons battled back on the serve of sophomore Linda Doherty (Massapequa Park/Massapequa)'s serve to bring the match to 20-22. The Mustang's held on to the lead, and earned the win by a margin of 23-25.

The Red Dragons took the first point of the second set off a block by both senior Melissa Voyer (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) and Meghan Keyes (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills). The Mustangs rallied back, scoring three consecutive points capped by a net violation by Oneonta, 1-3. The set went back and forth, before the Red Dragons starting pulling away forcing Morrisville to call their first timeout, 11-7. The Red Dragons continued to build their lead off Voyer's serve, including kills by Victoria Moulder (Wantagh/Kellenberg Memorial) and Clara Culeton (Oswego/Oswego) to give them a 17-10. In the ladder half of the match, the Red Dragons pulled away to defeat Morrisville by a score of 25-15 to tie the match at one game apiece.

The third set played level all the way to the into the Mustang's 10^th point where they took a three point advantage, 7-10. The Red Dragons pushed back to bring the score to 9-10 off of two consecutive kills by Abbate. With Morrisville pulling away the Oneonta called their first timeout, 10-13. Coming out of the timeout the Mustang's took two points off of Amelia Baratier serve, 10-15. Out of a timeout freshman Katelyn McDonough (Guilderland/Guilderland) service, and service ace brought the Red Dragons within three as they trail, 17-20. Climbing all the way out of a six point deficit the Red Dragons tied the set at 21 as Morrisville called a timeout. The Mustang's finished off the set 23-25 as they took a 2-1 set advantage.

In the four set the Red Dragons came out to take a 7-4 lead. The Mustang's battled back to take a 9-10 lead. The lead going back and forth with no team taking more than a two point lead until the Red Dragons broke out for a four point lead 17-13. The Red Dragons extended their lead to five, as Morrisville called a timeout 21-16. Out of the timeout the Mustang's Megyan Merrill's serve led the Mustang's to cut the to three, 22-19. The Red Dragons held on to the lead to take a 25-20 victory to knot the match at two games apiece.

Heading into the fifth and final set, Oneonta held control with the opening serve. The Red Dragons took the first point before Morrisville took the next three for a 1-3 advantage. Heading into the first called timeout the Mustangs held a 3-5 lead. Heading into the switch, the Red Dragons trailed 5-8. Morrisville built their lead to four, 8-12 with Oneonta calling their last timeout. Out of the timeout Oneonta took a point and earned serve to bring the match to 9-12. The Morrisville Mustang went on to win the match, 11-15 on a game ending kill by Merrill.

The Red Dragons are back in action as they open SUNYAC play in Fredonia this weekend. Their first match is against SUNY Cortland at 5PM.