Box Score NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The No.2-ranked State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team defeated United Volleyball Conference (UVC) foe the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-20), in its final regular-season home match on Saturday afternoon.
New Paltz improves to 21-2, 6-0 UVC and takes off on the road to compete in the Nazareth Invitational on Saturday, March 19. The Hawks will face California Lutheran University at 11 a.m. before facing the host Golden Flyers at 1 p.m. MIT drops to 18-6, 3-3 UVC and returns home to host Elms College on Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m.
The Hawks held an 8-0 advantage in service aces and a 7-3 edge in blocks while hitting .342 (37-12-73) for the match.
Senior outside hitter
Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) hit .579 (12-1-19) while flooring 12 kills, four aces, and providing five digs to lead the Hawks. Junior middle blocker
Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) chipped in eight kills while junior opposite
Joe Norman (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) added seven. Senior setter
Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) dished out 29 assists and totaled six blocks (one solo, five assists).
For the Engineers, junior outside hitter Martin Krasuski and freshman outside hitter Matt Reilly floored six kills apiece. Reilly and senior libero Brendan Chang worked the back row defend four digs each while freshman setter Yize Dong doled out 23 assists.
The score was kept close in the opening set until an MIT service error and a service ace by senior middle blocker
Christopher Husmann (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) placed the Hawks at a 5-3 advantage. New Paltz continued to stay ahead of the Engineers, capitalizing on MIT attack errors to push its lead to 12-7. The Hawks limited scoring opportunities for the Engineers to lead by a 24-16 margin before Husmann floored the kill to cap off the set win for New Paltz.
The second set saw both teams locked in a battle for the advantage. Kills by Norman and Husmann handed New Paltz a 10-8 edge over the Engineers but MIT would respond with three-straight points to take the lead. After another tug-of-war battle, the Hawks seized control of the score on a Fishman kill and service ace, before taking advantage of an MIT attack error for a 17-14 edge, forcing the Engineers into a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Hawks extended their lead to 24-19 on a 7-5 burst before Norman floored the kill to clinch the set.
Fishman served up three-straight points to place the Hawks at a 10-5 advantage in the third set before landing a kill to cap off a 9-5 run to place the Hawks at a comfortable 19-10 cushion. Despite the Hawks maintaining the lead, the Engineers capitalized on several New Paltz attack errors to slice the deficit to four but would not be able to go any further as an MIT
blocking error handed the Hawks the victory.
