Box Score KENOSHA, Wisc. – The No. 3 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team defeated No. 8 Carthage 3-1 (25-18, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19) on Wednesday night at Tarble Arena to finish its Midwest spring break trip undefeated at 5-0.
With the victory, the Hawks have now won 11 straight matches and improve to 17-3 overall. Returning back east, New Paltz will head to New Jersey City on Tuesday, March 24 to play the Gothic Knights at 7 p.m. The Red Men, meanwhile, move to 14-6 overall and play Medaille and Hilbert on Saturday, March 21.
In a meeting of two top-10 programs, the Hawks managed to outhit Carthage .303 (56-16-132) to .225 (49-20-129) on the evening. The Red Men entered the match leading Division III in blocking, with 2.71 blocks per set, and finished just below their average with nine total blocks (2.25 per set), a credit to well struck balls by New Paltz.
The Hawks entered the match leading the NCAA in two categories: kills (13.37 per set) and assists (12.59 per set) and did not disappoint with three players tallying double-digit kills and two in double digit assists.
Junior outside hitter
Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) continued his recent hot streak, tallying a team-high 16 kills while hitting .419 (16-3-31). The junior also notched five digs, two aces and two solo blocks.
Junior middle blocker
Christopher Husmann (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) finished with 13 kills behind a match-best .522 hitting percentage. Freshman outside hitter
Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) posted another double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs on the night. Junior setter
Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) distributed a team-high 28 assists and flirted with a triple double once again, finishing with eight kills, six digs and four block assists.
Senior setter
John Lutjen (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) finished with 14 assists and four digs while sophomore middle blocker
Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) notched six kills, hitting .600, four digs and four block assists. Junior libero
Kevin Nardone (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) recorded a match-high 14 digs on the night.
For the Red Men, Griffin Shields tallied a match-best 25 kills. Between Shields and Jon Storm, the duo accounted for 81 of Carthage's 129 total attacks (62.7 percent). Matt Ciaglia, who leads Division III in blocks per set, was limited to just .63 per set as the Red Men had trouble handling the New Paltz attack.
The first set was all New Paltz after being tied 6-6. The Hawks rattled off a 10-3 spurt to go ahead 16-9, taking advantage of multiple Carthage attacking errors. Following a Red Men timeout, New Paltz increased its lead to 21-12 after a kill by Smith. Carthage scored three points at the end but it was all for naught as Fishman tallied the final kill.
In set number two, the contest went back-and-forth and was tied at 13-13 before New Paltz notched two points on errors by Carthage, prompting the Red Men to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Hawks recorded three kills and later six straight points on Smith serves to take a commanding 24-15 cushion. Fishman once again recorded the set-clinching service for New Paltz.
Carthage was in control of the third set, jumping out to a 7-4 lead before the Hawks stormed back to tie it at 10-10. New Paltz scored four straight points on Bonilla serves to gain the lead 15-12. But the Red Men regrouped and outscored the Hawks 13-5 the rest of the way to take the third set victory, including the final four points, three coming via errors by New Paltz.
In the fourth and final set, neither team took much of a lead until the Hawks started pulling away 15-10, prompting Carthage to use both of its timeouts. Bonilla and Fishman were swinging great in the final set, tallying multiple kills apiece. New Paltz started to allow Carthage to creep back into the contest, leading 24-19 but the third set-clinching kill of the match by Fishman put an end to the Hawks successful road swing, as New Paltz defeated three top 15 programs during the span.
