Box Score NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – For the third-straight season, the State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team knocked off the No. 1 ranked team in Division III as the No. 5 Hawks defeated No. 1 Kean 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-20) on Wednesday night at the Hawk Center.
The Hawks handed Kean its first defeat of the season and ended the Cougars' 18-set winning streak in the process. With the victory, New Paltz improves to 9-3 overall and will prepare for the second United Volleyball Conference (UVC) weekend on Saturday, March 7 as the Hawks take on No. 8 Nazareth and Vassar in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Kean moves to 16-1 and will travel to Purchase, N.Y. on Saturday to play Skyline Conference opponents Mount Saint Vincent and Purchase.
New Paltz enjoyed a .366 hitting percentage for the match (42-12-82), including an impressive .565 showing in the second set (15-2-23). As previously mentioned this is the third-consecutive year that the Hawks dethroned the No. 1 ranked team as New Paltz defeated Rivier in 2014 and Nazareth in 2013.
Leading the way for New Paltz was senior setter
John Lutjen (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) who tallied eight kills and a match-high .667 hitting percentage (8-0-12). Lutjen distributed 15 assists and notched four digs and one service ace. Freshman outside hitter
Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) registered a match-high 11 kills while recording four digs, one ace and one block assist.
Junior setter
Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and junior middle blocker
Christopher Husmann (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) both tallied eight kills apiece, with Husmann recording a .500 hitting percentage (8-2-12). Smith filled out the stat sheet with a match-high 21 assists and flirted with a triple-double, tallying seven digs to go along with his eight kills. Junior libero
Kevin Nardone (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) notched a team-high eight digs.
The first set was all New Paltz to begin with as the Hawks claimed a 7-3 lead which prompted the Cougars to take a timeout. After the break, Kean responded and knotted the set at 11-11. The Cougars then took charge and went ahead 15-12, which forced New Paltz to call a timeout and regroup.
Out of the break, the Hawks still could not find their rhythm and fell behind 18-13. But New Paltz remained poised and settled down nicely, battling back to get within two (22-20). After back-to-back attacking errors by the Cougars and another Kean timeout, junior outside hitter
Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) earned the serve and the final three points went to New Paltz as Husmann and Lutjen completed the comeback with the last two kills.
Set number two started out tight and was knotted 6-6 before the Hawks started to pull away and claimed an 11-7 lead on kills by Fishman, Lutjen and Bonilla. Kean clawed to within two (11-9) and closed the gap to one point on two occasions but the Hawks remained stout and earned a 23-16 edge after a kill by sophomore middle blocker
Steven Woessner (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa). Again, Kean called a timeout but the momentum was too great by the Hawks as the home team closed out the set thanks to a service error by the Cougars.
The third and final set began in favor of Kean as the Cougars stormed out to a 10-5 edge. However, New Paltz called a timeout and responded with a 7-2 run to tie the set at 12, thanks in part to three kills by Bonilla. With the contest deadlocked at 17, New Paltz squeaked out two points to take a slim 19-17 lead. Kean inched closer to 19-18 but the Hawks were determined to close out the match and upset the Cougars, going on a 6-2 spurt to end the match.
For Kean, senior outside hitter Bez Arslani led the attack with eight kills while senior opposite Ed Jedziniak chipped in seven kills. Senior setter Ron Dunn dished out 21 assists, four digs and two aces for the Cougars.
