Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ERIE, Pa. – Playing its first United Volleyball Conference (UVC) crossover matches of the 2015 season, the No. 3 ranked State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team went 2-0 on Saturday, defeating No. 12 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 3-0 and handling host Penn State-Behrend 3-1.
With the victories, the Hawks improve to 6-1 overall and hold a 2-0 UVC mark. New Paltz will travel to UVC rival and No. 1 ranked Stevens on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. No. 12 MIT moves to 8-2, 1-1 UVC as the Engineers host Southern Vermont on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Lions fall to 5-4, 0-2 UVC and head to Hilbert on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
No. 3 New Paltz 3, No. 12 MIT 0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-15) The Hawks easily handled the No. 12 ranked Engineers in a three-set sweep to start the weekend. New Paltz hit .315 and held MIT to a negative hitting percentage (-.045) on the day, forcing 18 attacking errors.
Freshman outside hitter
Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) recorded a match-high nine kills as New Paltz used a balanced attack with six players tallying at least four kills apiece. Senior setter
John Lutjen (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) notched eight kills and a match-high .500 hitting percentage (8-1-15) to go along with a match-best 19 assists, two digs and three total blocks.
Senior outside hitter
Gus Gregory (Walnut Creek, Calif./Las Lomas) finished with eight kills and three digs while hitting .417 (8-3-12). Junior middle blocker
Christopher Husmann (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) notched six kills and three total blocks and sophomore middle blocker
Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) registered five kills, three digs, three block assists, one ace and one assist. Junior setter
Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) finished with four kills, five digs and 18 assists.
New Paltz hit an impressive .385 in the opening set. Clinging to a slim 7-6 lead, the Hawks scored three-straight points on Lutjen serves to take an 11-6 edge. Following an MIT timeout, New Paltz went ahead 16-8. The Engineers crept within five points (17-12) but the Hawks proved to be too much and closed out the set on a 8-3 run as Bonilla tallied a pair of kills during that stretch.
Set number two started out in favor of MIT as the Engineers led 4-2. But New Paltz and Smith earned the serve and rattled off five-straight points to take an 8-4 advantage. The Hawks used another surge, this time on three-straight Gregory serves, to take a commanding 12-5 lead, which prompted MIT to call timeout.
Following the break, New Paltz would not let up and went ahead 18-11. The Engineers got within four (20-16) but a pair of MIT attacking errors and kills by Woessner and Gregory closed out the set.
In the final and deciding set, the Hawks jumped out to a 7-2 lead. MIT recovered and eventually pulled within three (12-9) but New Paltz scored four-straight times on Lutjen serves to take a commanding 18-10 lead. Six different players recorded the final six kills for New Paltz as the Hawks closed out the No. 12 Engineers.
No. 3 New Paltz 3, PSU-Behrend 1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-18, 25-18) The Hawks had a little more trouble with the host Lions but managed to outhit Behrend .382 to .186 including hitting above .400 in the third and fourth sets. Bonilla once again led all players with 19 kills and used a .400 hitting percentage (19-5-35), eight digs, one ace and one solo block.
Sophomore opposite
Jake Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) recorded 14 kills and four digs while Husmann and freshman middle blocker
Nick Denoncourt (Rochester, N.Y./Penfield) both tallied seven kills and a .545 hitting percentage (7-1-11). Junior outside hitter
Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) chipped in six kills and seven digs while junior libero
Kevin Nardone (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) registered a match-high 10 digs.
New Paltz recorded 67 kills in the four-set match and had 11 players notch at least one kill. In the opener, the Hawks went ahead 4-1 and built an 8-3 lead following an ace by Woessner. The Lions rallied and pulled within three, 10-7, but once again New Paltz responded and went up 15-9 with two kills by Lutjen. Down the stretch, three players recorded at least two kills as Gregory tallied three –including the set-winner, while Bonilla and Husmann notched two.
The second set started just like the first with New Paltz earning a 7-2 lead including four-straight points on freshman setter
Mitchell Kennedy (Penfield, N.Y./Fairport) serves. After going up 10-4, the Lions were forced to regroup and called timeout. Behrend got within 13-9 and later 20-16 before breaking through and forcing New Paltz to call a timeout clinging to a slim two-point lead (23-21). A Fishman kill gave the Hawks set point but the Lions rattled off five-consecutive scores to take the second set 26-24.
After dropping the second set, the Hawks seemed determined in the third and leapt to a 10-5 lead with a pair of kills each by Husmann and Bonilla. Once again, the Lions rallied and inched within two (15-13). From that moment, the Hawks went on a 10-5 run to close out the set, using a Denoncourt ace for the deciding point.
In the fourth and final set, New Paltz held a marginal lead 7-5 before slowly increasing that edge to 15-11. The Lions climbed within three (21-18) but the Hawks responded with three-straight points to close out the match, including the determining point by senior defensive specialist
Misa Garo (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes).
