Troy, NY – The Sage Colleges' women's volleyball team hosted the Panthers of Purchase College on Saturday afternoon in the Neff Center. The day was filled with numerous emotions as prior to the match Sage honored senior setter, Joanie Cooney (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa) in conjunction with Senior Day.
Sage posted a 3-0 win (25-23, 25-17, 25-11) to post a perfect campaign in the Skyline Conference this fall and secured the top seed in the upcoming Skyline Conference Tournament. Sage stands at 16-16 overall and went 9-0 in the league. Purchase falls to 9-12 overall and 4-5 in the conference. Purchase has earned the No. 6 seed in the Skyline Tournament and will play on Wednesday, November 6 at No. 3 seeded Farmingdale State. The Gators earned a first round bye and will play on Saturday, November 9 at 11 a.m. on the campus of Mt. St. Mary College (Newburgh, NY), the host site of the 2013 Skyline Conference Fall Festival.
Sage's junior Helen Putriment (Troy, NY/Cobleskill-Richmondville) finished with 11 kills on the afternoon. Her 11th kill of the day was her 1,000th career kill and sealed Sage's unbeaten Skyline run. Putriment now has 1,000 career kills, becoming the fifth Sage women's volleyball player to achieve the feat. She added nine digs and two aces in the action, elevating her career resume to include 1,269 digs. She is just one of just four players at Sage to have over 1,000 digs and kills on her career.
Cooney, who has been forced to the sidelines was able to start the senior day match and now has 2,973 career setting assists which is No. 2 all-time at Sage.
Rookie Michayla Berard (Binghamton, NY/Susquehanna Valley) added eight kills for Sage with two digs, while Sage's rookie setter Rachel Liebig (Hartford, NY/Hartford) posted 26 setting assists in the action with seven digs.
Junior libero Katelyn Drollette (Cadyville, NY/Saranac) had 11 digs to elevate her career resume to include 1,061 career digs and is climbing the Gator record book as she stands in 13th place in the Sage record book.
Purchase was paced by the play of freshman Alex Lally (Sunnyvale, TX/Sunnyvale) and rookie Alicia McCarthy (Plano, TX/Plano East Senior) as they each added six kills. Lally finished with nine digs and two aces, while McCarthy had seven digs with two aces. Freshman setter Olivia Schoeller (Ronkonkoma, NY/Connetquot) chipped in with 18 setting assists and had four kills with an ace and four digs.
