The Oswego State volleyball team came to an end Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-22) loss to the second-seeded SUNY New Paltz Hawks in the semifinals of the SUNYAC tournament.

The Lakers finish their season with 25 wins, fourth all time in program history and most since 1994.

Despite the result, this team was proud of how far they have progressed under head coach J.J. O’Connell.

Senior libero Rachel Ruggaber said that this was “the best team I’ve ever played for.”

Mary Montagnola, who is also a senior libero, expressed her feelings in this team improving year-to-year.

“I think this year was definitely different because in the previous years we were just a team, but this year we’re a family on and off the court,” Montagnola said. “I felt like this year we had the ability to step up and take this team to a new level.”

Oswego started off strong in the first set, only facing a two-point deficit as the score was 11-9 in favor of the Hawks, but then New Paltz went on a 14-4 run that would close out the first set.

“We were beating ourselves during that game,” Montagnola said. “We were focusing too much on New Paltz and weren’t focusing on our fundamentals and we what actually really needed to do.”

O’Connell talked about how he stressed playing a clean game for his team.

“New Paltz has a lot of size, they definitely won the blocking battle with us,” O’Connell said.

This was surprising with the amount of height that the Lakers have, with players like Ariel Murawski, Allison Sullivan, Megan Russell and Kelsey Dillon all 5’10 or taller, but the Hawks won the blocking battle 8-3.

“I think we did a good job against New Paltz [on defense],” O’Connell said. “I felt if our offense could have matched that we would have been fine. We struggled a little bit with our offense.”

Offensive struggles are not something that the Lakers had to worry about much this year, but were forced to adjust when their offense couldn’t control the pace of the game.

While the Lakers saw their fair share of struggles within the first two sets, they went neck-and-neck with the Hawks in the third set.

At one point the Lakers were up 11-8, but the Hawks came back and held a 17-14. O’Connell called a timeout at that point, and the Lakers were able to get a couple of points back, but New Paltz rode the three-point lead to the finish as they punched their ticket to the SUNYAC finals.

Montagnola was a big reason that the Lakers bounced back stronger in the third set. She was the most vocal of her teammates and was able to motivate them heading into what would be the final set.

“I just wanted to let everyone know to get out of their own heads,” Montagnola said.” It’s the SUNYACs… We haven’t been this far before. I just wanted them to relax and have fun.”

Moving forward, this team still has a lot of talent with three of their top four killers returning in Ariel Murawski, Megan Russell and Emma Moriarty.

“I think they [Seniors] have left us in a great spot,” O’Connell said. “They’ve set the standard in terms of what we want to be.”

Montagnola saw it as her responsibility to be a leader for this team with her experience.

“It’s the leadership that a senior brings, it’s how they change the underclassmen,” she said. “I just really wanted to be vocal and inspirational. They [underclassmen] are young and they’re going to make silly mistakes, but if they don’t have someone to look up to, they’re never going to get past those mistakes.”

Despite the strong core of seniors on this roster, Ruggaber believes that everyone has had their fair share of chances to become leaders for the present and the future.

“Every body, at one point or another, has gotten down,” Ruggaber said. “Every single players has pumped us up, one way or another.  I think they’re going to be doing wonders next year.”

This pair of seniors, Montagnola and Ruggaber, actually did not play on this team starting in their freshman year.

“At first I didn’t think I wanted to play a sport in college,” Ruggaber said. “Going from that to the three years I had with this team, I have built amazing new chemistry and amazing new friends with everybody.”

Montagnola actually tried for the team her sophomore year and did not make the final roster.

Neither have any regrets in their career and were thankful for the experience and opportunity that the sport, the team and the coaching staff have brought to them.

“It’s all been one big rollercoaster, but it has been a blessing,” Ruggaber said.

“Best thing I can take away is working hard,” Montagnola added. “Working hard is what it takes to be a Laker.”

This team will say goodbye to Ruggaber, Montagnola, Kelsey Dillon, Lindsey Morehouse, and junior Kim Cassa to graduation.

O’Connell will look to lead his team back to the SUNYAC tournament, and after improving their final standing in back-to-back years, he will finally look to reach the finals.