CORTLAND, NY – The Wilkes University women's volleyball team dropped two matches Saturday at the Cortland Invitational. First the Colonels fell 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 21-25) against Morrisville State College before SUNY Cortland won the second match 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-21).

Wilkes now stands at 12-7 overall this season. Morrisville State improved to 12-4 with its victory and Cortland moved its record to 7-11.

The Colonels started the morning strong, taking the opening set from Morrisville State 25-20. Alex Ferrier (Cressona, PA/Blue Mountain) started the match with two kills on the first two points. Trailing 3-2, Wilkes then went a five-point run to take control at 7-3. Ferrier had another kill and that was followed by two kills from Jamey Mikovich (Nesquehoning, PA/Panther Valley). Mikovich and Christie Challenger (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Blue Mountain) then combined for a block and Karlye Huffman (Sugar Run, PA/Wyalusing) had a service ace. The Mustangs battled back for a 15-14 lead and still led at 19-18 before the Colonels scored seven of the next eight points. Sierra Smith (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) started the rally with a kill and also had an ace. Juliet Betke (Poplar Grove, IL/Belvidere North) closed things out with two aces in the final three points.

Morrisville State was able to take three straight sets to win 3-1. Wilkes led early in the second set and was tied as late as 17-17 before the Mustangs pulled away to win 25-21. The third set went the same way with the teams tied at 13 before Morrisville State won 25-20. The Colonels led as late as 17-16 before the Mustangs closed out the match with nine of the last 13 points to take set four 25-21.

As a team Wilkes held advantages over Morrisville State in hitting percentage (.137 to 0.98), kills (45-41) and assists (39-35).

Mikovich led the offense with 15 kills and added nine digs. Ferrier tied her season high with 14 kills while Betke led the Wilkes defense with 19 digs and was strong at the service line with a season high four aces. Huffman assisted 36 times and set a new career high with 12 digs. Michele Natale (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) added seven kills and Smith contributed six kills and three aces.

Wilkes led early on in the first two sets against Cortland in the day's second match but the Red Dragons were able to gain control in both sets to take matching 25-14 victories.

The Colonels looked to push the match to a fourth set and were tied with Cortland at 16-16 before the home team went on a four-point run to gain control and eventually win 25-21 to hand Wilkes only its second straight-set loss of the season.

Mikovich led the offense with eight kills and added seven digs and two blocks. Challenger added five kills and four digs. Betke led the defense with eight digs while Huffman directed the offense with 19 assists.

The Colonels remain on the road when they travel to Eastern University on Tuesday for a Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom match at 7:00 p.m.