Box Score

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Competing in its first match since returning from the Midwest, the No. 3 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team defeated host New Jersey City University 3-0 (27-25, 25-18, 25-14) on Tuesday evening at Coach Charlie Brown Court.

With the win, the Hawks have now won 12 straight matches and improve to 18-3 overall and 10-2 on the road. New Paltz will host Hunter on Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. The Gothic Knights, meanwhile, move to 12-9 overall and host John Jay College on Thursday at 7 p.m.

For the match, New Paltz enjoyed 41 kills, compared to 25 for New Jersey City, and outhit the Gothic Knights .464 to .127. The Hawks hit well over .600 in both sets two and three, notching a .684 percentage (15-2-19) in set two and .625 (12-2-16) in set three.

The Hawks were led offensively by freshman setter Mitchell Kennedy (Penfield, N.Y./Fairport), who registered nine kills behind a .818 hitting percentage (9-0-11). Kennedy just missed out on a double-double as he tallied 16 assists on the evening. New Paltz now leads the all-time series with New Jersey City 21-2 and have won the last 16 matches.

Freshman outside hitter Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) also notched nine kills. Freshman outside hitter Ben Cohen (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) recorded eight kills and five digs while senior defensive specialist Misa Garo (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) tallied five kills, a match-high 20 assists, five digs and two block assists.

Junior defensive specialist Chris Lilley (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) floored a match-high three service aces against NJCU while freshman middle blocker Nick Denoncourt (Rochester, N.Y./Penfield) chipped in three kills and four block assists. Freshman middle blocker Ryan Cole (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) executed five kills behind a .833 hitting percentage (5-0-6) for New Paltz. For the Gothic Knights, freshman setter John Leon, junior opposite Kendall Tribbett and junior outside hitter Daque Wilcox all tallied six kills apiece.

The first set was the tightest as the Hawks held off the Gothic Knights to take the opener. Neither team claimed more than a two-point lead until NJCU went ahead by three (16-13), which prompted the Hawks to talk things over. Out of the timeout, New Paltz fell behind by four (19-15) and the Gothic Knights were sitting on set point (24-20) when the Hawks rallied from behind to steal the win.

Following a serving error by NJCU, the Hawks enjoyed four-straight attacking errors by the Gothic Knights with Garo, Denoncourt and Bonilla providing block assists during this run. After the set was tied at 25, Garo notched a kill and the Hawks wrapped up the first set on another attacking error by NJCU.

Set number two started out in favor of the Hawks as New Paltz jumped out to a 6-3 lead. But the Gothic Knights battled back to knot the contest at 10. From this moment, New Paltz went on an 8-2 spurt including a pair of kills by Kennedy to go ahead 18-12. After NJCU notched two points on a kill and ace, the Hawks took control as Cole registered two kills and Lilley found the woodwork for the set-clinching ace.

The third and final set started off close and was knotted at 8-8 before the Hawks went on a 4-0 run, scoring three points on Garo serves, to go ahead 12-8, prompting the Gothic Knights to take a timeout. New Paltz continued its run out of the break and scored three more points, capped off by a Garo ace, to claim a comfortable 15-8 lead. The Hawks would outscore NJCU 10-6 the rest of the way as freshman outside hitter Yorman Escobar (Sunnyside, N.Y./Aviation) registered a kill and an ace and freshman outside hitter Joe Fazio (West Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) clinched the match with an ace of his own.