Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

LANGHORNE, Pa. – The No. 4 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team won twice on Saturday at a tri-match hosted by Cairn University at the Mason Activity Center, topping the host Highlanders, 3-1 (20-25, 25-13, 25-19, 25-22), before blanking Brooklyn College, 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-14).
 
The Hawks rise to 8-3 overall with the wins and host top-ranked Kean University next on Wednesday, March 4, at 7 p.m. Cairn falls to 8-11 overall, while Brooklyn drops to 0-15. Both teams close out the tri-match with a 3 p.m. match Saturday afternoon.
 
No. 4 New Paltz 3, Cairn 1
 
Cairn hung with New Paltz during the first match of the day, stunning the Hawks, 25-20, in the opening stanza. The visitors, however, brought out their "A" game in sets two through four, hitting .619, .381 and .600, respectively, in the final three frames. For the match, the Hawks hit at a .417 (48-13-84) clip.
 
The Highlanders trailed just once in the first set and opened up a 14-8 lead. The Hawks, however, scored seven of the next nine points, and a Cairn hitting error pulled New Paltz within one at 16-15. The Highlanders, however, countered by scoring nine of the set's final 14 points to pull out the set-one victory.
 
Cairn stayed within striking distance of New Paltz in the early goings of the second frame, but a 5-0 surge that was capped off by a pair of aces by senior setter John Lutjen (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) gave the Hawks a commanding 20-11 lead. After two Highlander points, New Paltz responded by punctuating the set with a 5-0 run, as the Hawks won the stanza, 25-13.
 
Once again, the two teams vied for momentum, this time in the third set, but a 13-all score turned into a 20-15 New Paltz advantage following a 7-2 Hawk spurt. The Hawks did not allow the Highlanders to score consecutive points the rest of the way, putting the home team on the ropes with a 25-19 set victory.
 
New Paltz appeared to be in cruise control early in the fourth, with the Hawks scoring the first four points. Cairn hung around, however, and eventually trimmed the deficit to one (21-20) after a Hawk attacking error. Two Highlander miscues helped New Paltz extend the lead to 23-20, and the two teams sided each other out until sophomore middle blocker Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) floored the match-ending kill.
 
Junior setter Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) keyed a balanced New Paltz attack with nine kills, and he hit .462 (9-3-13) on the match. Smith also dished out 17 assists as a setter in a 6-2 offense, with Lutjen doling out a team-high 21. Woessner fashioned a solid .667 hitting percentage (8-0-12), while the NCAA Division III leader in the category, junior middle blocker Christopher Husmann (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa), saw a reduced offensive workload en route to hitting .857 (6-0-7). Freshman middle blocker Nick Denoncourt (Rochester, N.Y./Penfield), Husmann and senior outside hitter Gus Gregory (Walnut Creek, Calif./Las Lomas) all tied for the team-high in digs with three each.
 
For Cairn, freshman outside hitter Andy Willits and senior outside hitter Josiah Buss tallied 17 and 11 kills, respectively, while freshman setter Alex Lower kept the offense moving with 38 assists. Senior libero Matthew Rhodes paced the back row defensively with a match-high seven digs.
 
No. 4 New Paltz 3, Brooklyn 0
 
New Paltz made quick work of Brooklyn in its final match of the day, hitting .382 (41-15-68) while limiting the Bulldogs to -.143 (4-9-35) hitting. Brooklyn did, however, post six blocks as a team, but the Hawks were superior from the service line with 13 total aces on the match.
 
Brooklyn challenged New Paltz early in the first, but a 3-0 Hawk run that ended with kills by Denoncourt and freshman outside hitter Ben Cohen (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) gave New Paltz a 12-8 lead it would not relinquish. Though the Bulldogs eventually came within two points of the Hawks at 18-16, Brooklyn was unable to score consecutive points the rest of the set, as New Paltz cruised to a 25-19 win in the first.
 
New Paltz found its groove offensively in the second, hitting .500 (14-3-22) in the middle stanza. The Hawks scored points in bunches all set, with the most devastating to Brooklyn's cause being a 6-0 New Paltz run that gave the Hawks a 22-9 lead. After the Bulldogs scored four of the next five points, Denoncourt and junior defensive specialist Chris Lilley (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) closed out the set with a pair of kills.
 
The early portion of the third set saw Brooklyn stay close to New Paltz, but eight straight Hawk points broke open a 15-6 lead. The Bulldogs were unable to mount a comeback from that point forward, and New Paltz completed the Saturday sweep in the Keystone State.
 
Denoncourt showed a preview of dominant matches in years to come for the Hawks, as the freshman floored a match-high and career-high 12 kills while hitting .563 (12-3-16). Fellow Rochester-area native and freshman setter Mitchell Kennedy (Penfield, N.Y./Fairport) dished out a match- and career-high 34 assists, while Cohen and freshman outside hitter Joe Fazio (West Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) kept the back-row defense moving with six and five digs, respectively. Denoncourt and freshman middle blocker Ryan Cole (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) helped lead the Hawks' dominant performance from the service line with five and four aces, respectively.
 
For Brooklyn, sophomore outside hitter Shawn Varghese notched two kills, while freshman setter Kevin Bautista distributed two assists. Defensively, Varghese had four digs, while freshman middle blocker Ian Miranda finished with four total blocks (two solo, two assist).