Box Score NEW YORK – The No. 1 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team passed yet another test in its penultimate match of the regular season on Wednesday evening, topping host Baruch College, 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-13), at the ARC Arena in Manhattan.
New Paltz has now won 26 straight matches dating back to its season-opening trip to Puerto Rico in January, and the Hawks have yet to lose to an NCAA Division III team this season.
The Hawks used 18 student-athletes in the win, with half of them registering at least one kill. New Paltz hit .324 (36-12-74) on the match while limiting Baruch to just .062 (19-15-65) hitting. The Hawks also floored 13 service aces while holding an 8-3 advantage in total team blocks.
New Paltz rises to 27-2 overall with the win faces perhaps its toughest obstacle yet on Saturday, April 2, as the Hawks visit No. 2 Springfield College for a 6 p.m. match in the Hawks' regular-season finale. The Hawks topped the Pride in straight sets when the two teams last met on March 9 at the Hawk Center. Baruch drops to 16-11 with the loss and visits Springfield in its regular-season finale on Friday, April 1, at 7 p.m.
A 5-0 New Paltz run to open the match was indicative of how things would pan out the remainder of the evening. While the Bearcats stayed within striking distance, the Hawks rattled off five unanswered points, with a service ace by sophomore outside hitter
Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) giving New Paltz a 22-13 cushion. Baruch battled back, though, scoring eight of the next 10 points to pull within three (24-21), but a Bearcat net violation wound up giving the Hawks a 25-21 triumph in the first.
The Hawk attack continued to churn early in the second set, with the visitors mounting an 11-3 advantage following a kill by junior opposite
Jake Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa). The two teams traded points until New Paltz put the set out of reach with a 5-0 run, which staked New Paltz to a 21-11 lead. The Hawks staved off the Bearcats down the stretch in the set to prevail, 25-16.
New Paltz maintained its momentum in the third, jumping out to leads of 3-0, 8-2, 13-4 and 15-5. Baruch put together a three-point run midway through the frame, but the Hawks continued to score points in bunches until a block assist by junior middle blocker
C.J. Borfitz (Inwood, N.Y./Lawrence) and freshman setter/opposite
Nick Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) ended the match.
Senior outside hitter
Andy Fishman (Cornwallville, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) led the Hawk attack with eight kills and a .375 hitting percentage (8-2-16), while senior setter
Christian Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) handed out 32 assists. Bonilla and junior middle blocker
Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) floored four service aces each, while
Christian Smith finished with four total blocks (two solo, two assist). Senior libero
Kevin Nardone (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) paced the back row defensively with six digs.
For Baruch, senior outside hitter Brady Ambro registered a team-high eight kills, while sophomore opposite Stephen Roach doled out 12 assists. Senior libero Taylor Higgs and senior outside hitter Man Wai Choi provided several positive contributions to the team's back-row defensive efforts with six and five digs, respectively.
