Box Score

BEVERLY, Mass. – The No. 15 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team (10-8) was played tough in the first set, but the Hawks went on to claim the final two sets with less trouble, prevailing by a 3-0 (27-25, 25-23, 25-20) final over Endicott College (10-9) Friday night in a non-conference match at MacDonald Gymnasium.

The Gulls hit and blocked extremely well in the first set. Down 22-19 in the first frame, New Paltz benefited from an Endicott service error and back-to-back kills from junior opposite Mike Van Tyne (Rochester, N.Y.) and senior outside hitter Keith MacDonald (Monroe Township, N.J.) to knot the score at 22-all. Senior middle blocker Jonathan Van Dyke (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) and MacDonald floored kills on consecutive points after Endicott called a timeout to bring the tally to 24-22 in favor of New Paltz. Zeke Kubisch landed a kill for Endicott and senior setter Andrew Cassius (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was charged with a set error, which leveled the score at 24-all. Both teams traded points until the Hawks registered the set point off of a Gull attack error.

New Paltz coasted through the final two sets, and despite some resistance midway through the second by means of six straight Endicott points, the Hawks completed the three-set sweep.

Van Tyne led New Paltz with a match-high 19 kills and hit .500 on the contest, while junior middle blocker Kevin Stross (Port Washington, N.Y.) hit .556 with 12 kills and two attack errors in 18 total attempts. Senior setter/opposite Jakub Chleboun (Prague, Czech Republic) performed well off the serve, landing three service aces. MacDonald shored up the defense with 11 digs, while Stross had one block solo and three block assists. Cassius handed out the match-high in assists with 37.

For Endicott, Jeremy Siden collected 10 kills, while Jeremy Schlosser assumed setting duties and handed out 34 assists. Andrew Slocum picked up a team-high six digs, while Schlosser had one block solo and two block assists.

New Paltz next hosts Ramapo College on Wednesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. in a non-conference match.