NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The No. 2 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team will finish off its regular-season play on Wednesday, April 9, with a home match against non-conference competitor New Jersey City University at 7 p.m. at the Hawk Center.
RECORDS: New Paltz enters Wednesday's match with a record of 23-3 overall, while NJCU holds a mark of 11-16.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS (23-3): New Paltz swept The Sage Colleges, 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-22), in a non-conference contest on Friday, April 4… Sophomore middle blocker
Christopher Husmann paced the Hawk attack with 16 kills and a .583 hitting percentage… Junior setter
John Lutjen and sophomore setter
Christian Smith dished out 20 and 19 assists, respectively… Freshman middle blocker
C.J. Borfitz totaled five block assists… For his efforts against Sage in addition to his performance against No. 14 Baruch College on Tuesday, April 1, Husmann was named the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Player of the Week.
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), Husmann ranks sixth (.364) and sophomore outside hitter
Tim Ferriter stands at eighth (.358)… Ferriter leads the team and is ranked fourth in the conference in kills per set with 3.69… Woessner is second in the UVC in service aces, averaging 0.41 per set.
TEAM STATISTICS: Offensively, New Paltz rules the conference's statistical categories, ranking first in hitting percentage (0.315), kills per set (13.26), assists per set (12.29) and service aces per set (1.80).
SCOUTING THE GOTHIC KNIGHTS (11-16): NJCU lost to No. 13 Kean University, 3-0, before sweeping Yeshiva University, 3-0, during a Skyline Conference tri-match on Sunday, April 6… The Gotchic Knights will play Purchase College on Tuesday, April 8, in their last conference game before facing New Paltz the next day.
STATISTICAL LEADERS: Freshman middle hitter Sheldon Coure leads the team and ranks second in the Skyline in hitting percentage (.340) while also leading the team in kills (2.79 per set), which ranks eighth in the conference… Senior setter Gary Preston Jr. averages 8.83 assists per set, which ranks third in the conference.
TEAM STATISTICS: NJCU ranks fourth in the Skyline in hitting percentage (.177), third in assists per set (10.03), third in kills per set (10.69) and fifth in the conference in blocks per set (1.57).
LAST MEETING: New Paltz took down NJCU with a 3-0 victory last season on April 2, 2013, at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center… See below for the recap from that match.
MATCH RECAP:
April 2, 2013 WHAT'S NEXT: Both teams will return to action on Saturday, April 12… The Hawks will compete in the 2014 UVC Tournament, taking on Penn State Behrend at 1 p.m. in the quarterfinals... The tournament is taking place in Rochester, N.Y., at Nazareth College… NJCU will compete in the 2014 Skyline Conference Tournament against an opponent to be determined.
COACHES: New Paltz is led by eighth-year head coach
Radu Petrus, while NJCU is directed by Robert Cole, who is in his first season as head coach.
