NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The No. 3 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team returns to action on Wednesday, March 26, with a trip to New York City to face non-conference competitor Hunter College at 7 p.m.
RECORDS: New Paltz enters Wednesday's match with a record of 20-3, while Hunter holds a mark of 11-9.
SCOUTING THE NEW PALTZ HAWKS (20-3): New Paltz committed only 10 hitting errors in a 3-0 sweep against New York University in its final United Volleyball Conference (UVC) match of the season on Thursday, March 13... New Paltz finished the match with an impressive 11 service aces and a .403 hitting percentage… Sophomore outside hitter
Tim Ferriter led the Hawks with 10 kills and a .353 hitting percentage… Junior setter
John Lutjen and sophomore setter
Christian Smith dished out 20 and 14 assists, respectively, while sophomore middle blocker
Christopher Husmann paced the front row defense with five total blocks.
STATISTICAL LEADERS: Three New Paltz players make up the top 10 in the UVC in hitting percentage: freshman middle blocker
Steven Woessner ranks fourth (.378), Ferriter ranks seventh (.357) and Husmann stands at eighth (.353)… Ferriter leads the team and is ranked fifth in the conference in kills per set with 3.66… Woessner leads the UVC in service aces, averaging 0.43 per set.
TEAM STATISTICS: Offensively, New Paltz rules the conference's statistical categories, ranking first in hitting percentage (.310), kills per set (13.06), assists per set (12.09) and service aces per set (1.81)… New Paltz also ranks first in Division III in assists per set.
SCOUTING THE HUNTER HAWKS (11-9): Hunter was defeated by NYU on Sunday, March 23, before beating New Jersey City University, 3-1, later in the day… In the loss against NYU, senior setter Stanley Martinez had six kills and 13 assists, while freshman middle blocker Steven Tarquino added six kills… In the win against NJCU, sophomore middle blocker Alexandru Barbulescu had 13 kills and Tarquino added 10… Martinez dished out 37 assists and junior libero Colin Horn came up with 12 digs.
STATISTICAL LEADERS: Barbulescu leads the team and is ranked third in the CUNYAC in hitting percentage (.368), while Martinez ranks fourth in assists per set with 7.18 and Tarquino leads the conference in blocks, averaging 0.93 per set.
TEAM STATISTICS: Hunter ranks second in the CUNYAC in blocks per set (1.89) and service aces per set (1.74) while ranking third in both hitting percentage (.209) and kills per set (10.87).
LAST MEETING: New Paltz took down Hunter with a 3-0 victory last season on January 23, 2013... The match was the season opener for both teams… See below for a recap from that match.
MATCH RECAP:
Jan. 23, 2013 WHAT'S NEXT: New Paltz will return to action on Tuesday, April 1, with a match against Baruch College in New York City at 8 p.m… Hunter will compete in the CUNYAC Multi-Match hosted by Baruch on Saturday, March 29, where it will face Baruch and then Brooklyn College… The match times have not yet been announced.
COACHES: New Paltz is led by eighth-year head coach
Radu Petrus, while Hunter is directed by Ray Bello, who is in his 10th season as head coach.
