Box Score ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The No. 2-ranked State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team defeated United Volleyball Conference (UVC) foe Bard College, 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-19) in a mid-week road match on Wednesday evening.
The Hawks rise to 11-2, 3-0 UVC and next compete at the Juniata Invitational where they will face Hunter College on Friday, Feb. 19 at 3 p.m., followed by back-to-back matches against Lasell College and host Juniata on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively. Bard drops to 1-10, 0-2 UVC and continues conference play at Penn St.-Behrend on Saturday, Feb. 20, facing No. 10 Vassar College at 1 p.m. and the host Lions at 3:30 p.m.
New Paltz hit .382 (38-12-68) for the match and recorded seven aces and seven blocks.
Senior setter
Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) dished out 31 assists, four kills, three digs and a service ace for a .800 clip (4-0-5).
Junior middle blocker C.J. Borfitz (Inwood, N.Y./Lawrence) hit .538 for the match (8-1-12) with eight kills and four block assists while junior opposite/middle blocker Jake Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) chipped in seven kills Freshman setter/opposite
Nick Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) floored a match-high three service aces while sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter
Ryan Cole (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) and senior defensive specialist/libero
Chris Lilley (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) defended four digs apiece.
For Bard, junior outside hitter Alex Adams recorded three kills and four blocks while sophomore libero Tyler Zowaski also notched three kills and defended nine digs. Senior setters Mahir Sheikh and Kai-Bernier Chen each doled out four assists in the loss.
The Hawks hit .500 (11-2-18) in the opening set as they jumped ahead to a 5-3 edge on a kill from Borfitz. New Paltz extended its lead further on a 5-0 run for a 10-4 tally, forcing Bard to call a timeout. The Hawks continued their heavy offensive attack to push their lead to 22-9. The Raptors would only manage two more pointst before another kill by Borfitz wrapped up the set.Bard pushed an early lead in the second set as the Raptors capitalized on several New Paltz errors for a 6-4 edge. However the Hawks vaulted ahead on an 8-2 run to pull ahead, 12-8, before surging ahead on a 9-2 spurt capped off on a block assist by sophomore middle blocker Nick Denoncourt (Rochester, N.Y./Penfield) and Christian Smith for a 21-10 gap, prompting the Raptors to take a timeout. Coming out of the break, Bard sliced the score to 24-15 before junior opposite Joe Norman (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) landed the set winning kill.The score remained close in the final set before New Paltz stormed ahead on a 9-1 run for a 12-4 advantage. After a brief timeout by the Raptors, the Hawks maintained their lead but Bard managed to cut the score to 15-11 on a pair of New Paltz attack errors and a kill by Zowaski. The Raptors continued to follow close behind, decreasing the deficit to 22-19 but Borfitz tallied two of the Hawks' three final points to close out the set and secure the match victory.
