Baruch Box Score
Emmanuel Box Score
Tournament Website

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team (1-2) went 1-1 on the first day of the 2011 Hawks Tournament in the Hawk Center on Saturday afternoon, besting No. 7 Baruch College, 3-0, (25-22, 25-19, 27-25), before falling to No. 14 Emmanuel College, 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-21).

After the first day of competition, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Emmanuel are 2-0, while Elms College and Baruch are 0-2. New Paltz sits in the middle of the pack with a 1-1 mark. Among those programs, Baruch is the highest-ranked team in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll at No. 7, while MIT and Emmanuel are also ranked at Nos. 8 and 14, respectively.

New Paltz took full advantage of Baruch's unforced errors in the Bearcats' season opener, as they committed 15 attack errors and 16 service errors. The first set was a defensive battle, as New Paltz and Baruch hit .182 and .125, respectively. The Bearcats were undone by eight attack errors in the set, but they did rack up 12 kills to the Hawks' 11 in the first frame. Baruch made a push late, but New Paltz put aside its finishing woes from Thursday's match against No. 9 New York University and closed out the stanza.

The offenses were firing on all cylinders in the second game, as both teams put on a solid display of hitting. The Bearcats hit .300 in the frame, while the Hawks hit at a .316 clip. New Paltz, however, proved too strong for Baruch, and won the set with ease by a 25-19 final.

The Hawks and the Bearcats traded the lead throughout the third set, and Baruch was one point away from sending the match to a fourth frame when senior outside hitter Keith MacDonald (Monroe Township, N.J.) misfired on an attack to put the Bearcats up 24-22. Senior middle blocker Jonathan Van Dyke (Hopewell Junction, N.J.), and junior middle blocker Kevin Stross (Port Washington, N.Y.) floored back-to-back kills, forcing Baruch to take a timeout with the score knotted at 24-all. Eryk Kowalski notched a kill on a Jesus Echevarria set to put the Bearcats back on top, but Stross evened the tally with a kill of his own. MacDonald landed back-to-back kills, which gave New Paltz the set, 27-25, and the match, 3-0.

Stross paced the attack with 12 kills and a .407 hitting percentage, while MacDonald added 10 kills and hit .364. Stross' presence on the front row was felt defensively, as he corralled four total blocks on the match. Four Hawks reached double-figure totals in digs, as senior setter Andrew Cassius (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and MacDonald gathered 11, while junior defensive specialist/libero Frank Ciccone (Long Beach, N.Y.) collected 10. Cassius handed out 29 assists, while MacDonald also chipped in with three service aces.

For Baruch (0-2), Kowalski enjoyed a stellar all-around performance, posting a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs. Echevarria notched a match-high 32 assists and added 14 digs, while Vincent Cruz inspired the offense with a .583 hitting percentage off eight kills and one attack error on 12 total attempts. Cruz also had three total blocks.

The Hawks struggled against a talented Emmanuel team, which used superb hitting and defense to quell New Paltz's offensive efforts.

The Saints powered past the Hawks midway through the first set, scoring six unanswered points to go up 23-16. They would then go on to score two of the final three points to put New Paltz in a 1-0 hole.

In the second set, both teams were neck-and-neck, but Emmanuel outscored New Paltz 5-1 to close the frame and took the game by a 25-23 final. Finally, the third set started out going the Saints' way, as they hopped out to a 5-1 lead. They kept their distance from the Hawks until two attack errors allowed New Paltz to come within three at 21-18. Emmanuel was able to regroup after a timeout and delivered the knockout blow.

No Hawks reached double-digit figures in kills, but MacDonald led the way with nine. Cassius and freshman setter Misa Garo (Bronx, N.Y.) dealt out 16 and 10 assists, respectively, while freshman setter Brian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y.) and Van Dyke pitched in with three block assists each. Cassius and Ciccone both shared the team-high total in digs with four.

For Emmanuel (3-0), Curtis Abram and Thomas McCaffrey landed 12 and 10 kills, respectively, while Keoni Rabaino hit .667, posting eight kills on 12 total attempts with no errors. Nick Updike assumed the setting duties and handed out a match-high 35 assists, while Abram also picked up a match-high, reeling in eight digs.

The Hawks Tournament resumes tomorrow, with match times set for 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. New Paltz opens the day up with a 10 a.m. bout with MIT and contests Elms at 2 p.m. to close out the event.