NEW PALTZ, N.Y. - The No. 4 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team will host No. 10 New York University in United Volleyball Conference (UVC) action on Thursday, March 12 at 7 p.m. in the Hawk Center.
RECORDS: The Hawks are ranked fourth in Division III with an overall record of 11-3, 4-1 in the UVC... New Paltz is on a five-match winning streak with a 2-1 home record...The Violets are 10th in Division III with a 10-5 overall record, and 4-1 in the UVC... NYU has a 6-2 away record... The winner of Thursday's match will earn sole possession of second place in the UVC.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS (11-3, 4-1): The Hawks are coming off a big 2-0 weekend in a UVC tri-match with No. 8 Nazareth College (3-2) and Vassar College (3-0)... Senior setter
John Lutjen led the way for the Hawks in the Nazareth win with 15 kills, a .682 hitting percentage, 19 assists, three digs and three blocks... Junior setter
Christian Smith also claimed 15 kills in the match with a .542 hitting percentage and a team-high 24 assists... Junior middle blocker and Division III leader in hitting percentage,
Christopher Husmann, had 11 kills and a .611 hitting percentage on the day... Junior libero
Kevin Nardone led in the defense for the Hawks with 10 digs... During the match against Nazareth, New Paltz as a whole had a .309 hitting percentage... In the match against Vassar, the Hawks were led by sophomore middle blocker Steven Wossener, who tallied six kills and six block assists... Lutjen provided the Hawks with 19 assists during the match... Freshman outside hitter
Anthony Bonilla claimed a team-high four aces, while also notching eight digs, four kills, two block assists, and one assist... On the defensive end, New Paltz held Vassar to .000 and .059 hitting percentage in the last two sets... In the previous meeting against NYU, the Hawks were led by Smith, who registered 15 assists, four kills, four digs, two block assists, and a .800 hitting percentage... Bonilla had a team-high eight kills in the match... For his performance, Smith was named the AVCA National Player of the Week as well as the UVC Player of the Week.
STATISTICAL LEADERS:Kills: Bonilla (2.81 per set), Husmann (2.55 per set) Smith (2.31 per set)
Hitting Percentage:
Christopher Husmann (.522), Smith (.348), Bonilla (.269)
Assists: Smith (5.60 per set), Lutjen (5.16 per set),
Mitchell Kennedy (4.41 per set)
Service Aces: Wossener (0.41 per set), Bonilla (0.32 per set), Lutjen (0.31 per set)
Digs: Nardone (2.30 per set), Bonilla (1.34 per set), Smith (1.09 per set)
Blocks: Wossener (0.76 per set), Husmann (0.72 per set), Smith (0.49 per set)
TEAM STATISTICS: The Hawks are currently ranked first in the conference for assists (12.15 per set) and opponent assists (7.96 per set)... The Hawks are also ranked first in all of the Division III in assists... New Paltz is third in the conference in hitting percentage (.315) and second in kills (12.90 per set)... The Hawks are also second in service aces averaging 1.94 per set.
SCOUTING THE VIOLETS (10-5, 4-1): In the recent weekend, the Violets played in a UVC tri-match between Penn State-Behrend and Bard... The Violets claimed both victories in three set wins... Sophomore outside hitter Chase Klein led the way for NYU, finishing with 11 kills, a match-high seven digs, two service aces, and a block assists against Penn State-Behrend... Klein also had a match-best .450 hitting percentage in the victory... Outside hitter Nick Benson led all players in the match against the Lions with 14 kills... Sophomore setter Patrick Merrick notched two digs and led all players with 22 assists... In the second match against Bard, sophomore outside hitter Jake Getz finished with a career-high 10 kills, two service aces and two block assists... Freshman setter Jaime Rivera dished out 28 assists for the Violets in the win... The Violets are off a fresh 3-0 win against Rutgers-Newark in last night's match... Benson led the way for NYU with 13 kills and three service aces... Sophomore outside hitter Chase Klein had a big night with a .391 hitting percentage and three solo blocks... Merrick claimed 38 assists in the win, along with three blocks and three digs... In the previous match against the Hawks, Merrick had 21 assists... As a whole, the Violets had a .328 hitting percentage, 30 kills, and six service aces.
STATISTICAL LEADERS:Kills: Benson (3.93 per set), Klein (3.13 per set), Colin LaPorte (2.67 per set)
Hitting Percentage: Klein (.301), Benson (.213), LaPorte (.150)
Assists: Merrick (9.79 per set), Rivera (9.33 per set), Derrick Chiu (8.49 per set)
Service Aces: LaPorte (0.35 per set), Benson (0.30 per set), Klein (0.28 per set)
Digs: Andrew Quirk (2.58 per set), Klein (1.26 per set), LaPorte (1.19 per set)
Blocks: Phil Bueno (1.25 per set), Sean Leahy (0.83 per set), LaPorte (0.67)
TEAM STATISTICS: The Violets are currently ranked first in the UVC for blocks (2.46 per set)... NYU is ranked fifth in hitting percentage (.255) and fifth in assists (11.21 per set).
LAST MEETING: The Hawks defeated the Violets 3-0 when the teams met earlier this season on Feb. 5, 2015.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Hawks are traveling to the Midwest over Spring Break, first facing Benedictine University on Sunday, March 15 and No. 12 Dominican University on Monday, March 16...The Violets are traveling to Buffalo to face four different colleges from March 21-22.
