ONEONTA, NY – In a battle of city rivals, Hartwick stormed back from a 2-1 deficit to knock off Oneonta State, 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 16-25, 25-12, 15-11) on Tuesday night at Lambros Arena. The win for the Hawks is their third straight. It is also the first victory for the program over the Red Dragons since 2006 and just the second all-time (2-36).

Outside hitters Hannah Strom (Kenmore, WA/Inglemoor) and Dana Martin (Chester, NY/Burke Catholic) each tied for the match-high with 15 kills. They also had the same number of digs with 14 apiece.

Reigning Empire 8 Rookie of the Week Quincy Kinzel (Scotia, NY/Guilderland) also registered a double-double with a match-high 24 assists and a team-best 16 digs.

Oneonta State earned the early advantage, taking the first game by a margin of 25-20. The Red Dragons took the lead, 7-6, and never trailed again as they went ahead by as many as 10 points, 22-12. Five straight Hartwick points, capped by a Strom kill, cut the deficit to five, 22-17. Following a Red Dragon timeout, they scored the next two points to pull within a point of the first game, 24-17. 'Wick rallied for three points but could not get any closer.

In the second game, neither team mustered more than a two-point lead until a five-point Oneonta rally made the score 14-9. The Hawks would slowly chip away at the lead and a Hannah Armstrong (Lansing, NY/Lansing) ace put them ahead to stay, 18-17. It was all part of an eight-point Hartwick run which put the team up 23-17. Senior Katie Ryan's (Circleville, NY/Pine Bush) kill pushed O-State to the brink, 24-18, and two points later a Red Dragons error evened the match at one-game apiece.

The visitors controlled the third set from the opening point as they bolted out to an 8-1 lead. The advantage swelled to as many as 10 points on three occasions in the game but the Hawks fought their way back into it. Trailing by nine, 19-10, Hartwick trimmed the lead five with four straight points. Oneonta, however, would score six of the final eight points to take game three, 25-16.

Although the Red Dragons were firmly in control of game three, the Hawks would return the favor in game number four. 'Wick was in front by an early 8-3 margin and never led by less than four points the rest of the way.

The Hawks were comfortably in ahead, 18-10, but turned it on to close out the game, 7-2 over the last night points, to take the game in dominating fashion, 25-12. Martin and Strom each had two kills and Kinzel added one in the late Hawk surge. Christina Vitale (Port Jefferson Station, NY/St. John the Baptist) closed it out with an ace to force a deciding fifth set to 15 points.

The Red Dragons led by three at two different points early in the game. Back-to-back kills from Jill Darpino gave Oneonta a 7-4 lead, but four consecutive points from 'Wick, capped by a Martin kill, gave the Hawks an 8-7 edge.

With the score 9-9, Oneonta took a timeout but following the break, the Hawks scored four of the next five points to put them two points from the match at 13-10. Ryan had two kills, Martin recorded an ace, and Strom and Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) combined for a block to account for the Hartwick points in the spurt. Following a 'Wick service error, Strom finished the match with back-to-back kills for the 15-11 win in the fifth and the 3-2 Hartwick victory.

Kinzel would add five kills and five aces to her assists and dig totals. Armstrong had 17 assists and Vonasek had five blocks in the match. Ryan also ended with five kills for Hartwick. Alyssa Zeitler (Chardon, OH/Berkshire) finished with eight digs and Vitale contributed six.

Darpino paced Oneonta with 11 kills. Becca Horton recorded 22 assists and 12 digs and Kristina Pelaccio had the match-high in digs with 21. Paige Carpluk contributed 15 digs and eight kills.

Hartwick volleyball, which is now a winner of four of its last five matches, now heads into its final Empire 8 match on Saturday, October 12. The Hawks play first-place Stevens at Houghton College at 1 p.m.