Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The No. 3 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball extended its winning streak to 17 straight matches on Friday, as the Hawks defeated Southern Vermont College 3-1 (25-23, 17-25, 25-21, 25-14) to begin the Springfield College Tournament at Blake Arena.

With the victory, the Hawks rise to 23-3 overall and will face No. 6 Springfield tomorrow at 12 p.m. followed by a contest against Ramapo College at 2 p.m. to wrap up the tournament. The Mountaineers, meanwhile, move to 15-7 overall and play the Roadrunners tomorrow at 12 p.m. before concluding the day against the Pride at 2 p.m.

For the Hawks, the stats were well dispersed throughout the lineup with seven players notching at least four kills each. New Paltz hit just .259 (53-24-112) for the night but closed out the match hitting .588 in set number four. The Hawks limited the Mountaineers to a .093 hitting percentage (31-21-108), forcing 31 total errors by Southern Vermont.

Leading the offense was freshman setter Mitchell Kennedy (Penfield, N.Y./Fairport), who notched a double-double with 11 kills and 16 assists while chipping in four digs and one block assist. Kennedy hit .444 (11-3-18) for the evening. Junior outside hitter Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) followed with nine kills, hitting .571 (9-1-14), and provided five digs.

Freshman outside hitter Ben Cohen (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) found the floor for seven kills and tallied seven digs, one assist, one block assist and one ace. Senior defensive specialist Misa Garo (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) filled the stat line with a double-double of his own, enjoying 21 assists, 10 digs, five kills and one block assist. Freshmen middle blockers Ryan Cole (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) and Nick Denoncourt (Rochester, N.Y./Penfield) both registered four kills apiece and junior libero Kevin Nardone (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) gave the defense a boost with 10 digs.

In the opening set, the Mountaineers jumped out to a 3-0 lead but New Paltz battled back and gained a 6-5 lead. However, that lead was short lived as Southern Vermont reclaimed a 9-6 edge, which forced the Hawks to take a timeout. The results still did not go in favor of New Paltz following the break as the Hawks fell behind 12-8 and eventually 16-11.

Trailing 20-13, New Paltz inched closer and received kills from Garo, Kennedy, Cohen and senior outside hitter Gus Gregory (Walnut Creek, Calif./Las Lomas) to get within 22-18, forcing the Mountaineers to talk things over. Out of the break, Southern Vermont gained a 23-20 edge but the Hawks rattled off five unanswered points to close out the first set with kills from Cole, Kennedy, Gregory and Garo to cap off the comeback after being down by seven points.

Southern Vermont seized a 14-8 lead in set number two before the Hawks started to rally and climbed to within 15-12, enjoying three-straight attacking errors by the Mountaineers. New Paltz whittled the deficit down to two (17-15) but from that moment Southern Vermont gained control and outscored the Hawks 8-2 to hand New Paltz the set two defeat.

Set number three began back-and-forth with neither team gaining more than a two-point edge for the majority of the set. With the score tied at 17, the Hawks found the floor with kills by freshman outside hitter Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz), sophomore outside hitter Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) and Denoncourt to take a 20-18 advantage. New Paltz went ahead 23-20 after two errors by the Mountaineers and closed out the set on two more mistakes by Southern Vermont.

New Paltz was a force on the net in the final set, jumping out to a 12-5 lead thanks to blocks from senior setter John Lutjen (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West), junior middle blocker Christopher Husmann (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa), Woessner and Bonilla.

The Hawks increased the lead to 16-9 following an ace by Lutjen and kill by Woessner. After junior setter Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) earned the serve, New Paltz scored three-straight points to take a commanding 23-11 lead and closed out the match on two service errors by Southern Vermont to continue its 17-match winning streak.