Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Despite dropping the first set in each match on Saturday, the No. 4 ranked State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team responded strongly with a pair of 3-1 wins over Rutgers-Newark and No. 14 Stevenson at the Stevenson Tournament to open the 2015 season.
 
New Paltz is 2-0 and will next play at New York University on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. Rutgers Newark falls to 0-4 and will host New Jersey Institute of Technology on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. Stevenson moves to 1-2 and will compete in the Medaille Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 31.
 
In the showdown between two preseason nationally-ranked programs, the Hawks dropped the first set but answered with three straight wins to take the match 24-26, 25-23, 25-19, 25-17. Against the Mustangs, junior middle blocker Christopher Husmann (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) recorded a match-high 17 kills with an eye-opening .636 hitting percentage.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) finished with 11 kills (.417 hitting percentage), six total blocks and two service aces. Playing his first collegiate matches, freshman outside hitter Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) finished with 26 kills for the day, with 10 kills occurring against Stevenson. Bonilla also had six digs, three aces and two blocks.
 
Senior setter John Lutjen (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) and junior setter Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) finished with 24 and 23 assists, respectively, against the Mustangs. Much like the opening match against the Scarlet Raiders, New Paltz struggled offensively in the first set, hitting just .125, but the Hawks soon found their rhythm and managed to hit .355, .333 and .419 for the remaining sets while limiting the Mustangs to a .139 hitting percentage for the match.
 
In the season-opening match against Rutgers-Newark, who received votes in the 2015 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Preseason Top-15 Poll, the Hawks defeated the Scarlet Raiders 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-20). After dropping the first set of the year, New Paltz bounced back and won the next three to win its season-opening match.
 
Despite hitting just .028 in the first set, New Paltz recovered and hit a staggering .448 in the second, .500 in the third and .355 in the final set to put away Rutgers- Newark. Bonilla recorded a match-high 16 kills while hitting .458 and chipping in seven digs.
 
Woessner added 13 kills while hitting .375, and added four total blocks and three digs. Hussman led the team with a .571 hitting percentage, tallying nine kills. Six players finished with at least seven kills as Smith and junior outside hitter Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) both provided eight kills and Lutjen provided seven. Smith and Lutjen distributed 35 and 25 assists, respectively, while junior libero Kevin Nardone (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) and Fishman finished with 15 and 10 digs each.
 
In the early going, Rutgers-Newark had strong defense with several blocks in the first set to take an 11-6 lead. New Paltz answered back though with two kills by Woessner and Fishman to knot the contest at 15-15. After giving the serve back to the Scarlet Raiders, Rutgers-Newark claimed a 20-17 lead that prompted a timeout by New Paltz. Following the timeout, three attacking errors and one service error all but sealed the defeat in the first set.
 
In the second set, New Paltz trailed until a Fishman kill put the Hawks ahead 5-4. The Scarlet Raiders tied the set up at 7-7 but kills by both Bonilla and Woessner gave the lead back to New Paltz, 10-8. Following an ace by Woessner, Rutgers-Newark called a timeout and from that point the Hawks continued to out-power its opponent, with two straight kills by Woessner followed by a pair of kills by Smith to give New Paltz a 20-16 lead. Bonilla and Hussman added kills down the stretch with sophomore opposite Jake Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) providing the set-clinching point.
 
In set number three, New Paltz trailed 1-0 but would never trail again after jumping out to a 6-2 edge following three-straight kills by Fishman, Bonilla and Lutjen. The Hawks increased the lead to eight (19-11) after another kill by Fishman. Rutgers-Newark climbed within six points several times but the New Paltz offense was too strong. Once again, the Hawks trailed early on in the fourth and deciding set, but recovered nicely to complete the season-opening win.