Box Score LISLE, Ill. – The No. 4 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team opened up its Midwest trip on Sunday with a 3-0 victory (25-17, 27-25, 25-23) over Benedictine University at the Rice Center.
With the victory, the Hawks have now won seven straight matches and improve to 13-3 overall. New Paltz will battle No. 12 Dominican (Ill.) tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. (CDT). The Eagles fall to 6-12 and will take on Mount Saint Joseph on Friday, March 20 at 5 p.m.
Junior middle blocker
Christopher Husmann (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) finished with a match-high 12 kills. The NCAA Division III leader in hitting percentage continued his torrid streak, hitting .800 (12-0-15) against the Eagles. For the match, New Paltz hit .304, including .432 and .464 marks in the first two sets, respectively.
Junior setter
Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) joined Husmann in double-digit kills with 10, hitting .600 (10-1-15) to go along with a team-high 21 assists. Smith also chipped in five digs and two block assists. Senior setter
John Lutjen (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) tallied 16 assists and five kills, hitting .400 (5-1-10).
On the defensive end, junior libero
Kevin Nardone (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) recorded a match-high 14 digs with freshman middle blocker
Nick Denoncourt (Rochester, N.Y./Penfield) providing one solo block and three block assists at the net. Senior defensive specialist
Misa Garo (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) provided three kills, six assists and four digs.
In the first stanza, the Hawks jumped out to a 13-8 lead before the Eagles started to recover and came within three points (14-11). But New Paltz then went on a 6-3 spurt to claim a 20-14 lead and closed out the opening set thanks to a pair of kills by Smith and a set-winning service ace by senior outside hitter
Gus Gregory (Walnut Creek, Calif./Las Lomas).
The Eagles began the second set leading 3-0 but the Hawks answered with a 7-4 run to tie the set at 7-7. Benedictine used a 6-2 counter to regain a 13-9 edge and went ahead 17-14, forcing New Paltz to take a timeout. Out of the break, the Hawks played with more urgency and outscored the Eagles 5-1 to take a 21-18 lead, with Gregory accounting for two kills and an ace during this stretch. With the set knotted at 23, the teams traded points and again tied the contest at 25. But Husmann registered consecutive kills to hand the Hawks the set two win.
The third and final set started out back-and-forth before the Hawks started to pull away and earned a 14-9 advantage. Benedictine looked to rally and inched within three (16-13) but New Paltz answered with another quick run to take a 20-15 lead.
The Eagles would not go away quietly, going on a 5-0 run to knot the set at 20 and prompting the Hawks to call a timeout. New Paltz used a pair of attacking errors by Benedictine to go ahead 23-21 and closed out the Midwest opening match on an Eagle service error.
