Box Score

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The No. 2 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team wrapped up its California trip with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-17, 15-25, 25-17) win at host Cal Lutheran on Friday night.

The Hawks (2-2) return back to the East Coast to participate in the Juniata Invitational from Jan. 27-28, playing host Juniata, Thiel and Wittenberg.

In Friday's win, the Hawks enjoyed a .404 hitting percentage as senior middle blocker/opposite Jake Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) finished with 11 kills, hitting .667 (11-1-15) and junior outside hitter Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) tallied 10 kills, hitting .571 (10-2-14).

Senior middle blocker Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) floored eight kills (.538) while senior middle blocker C.J. Borfitz (Inwood, N.Y./Lawrence) and freshman middle blocker Nick O'Malley (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) both recorded six kill apiece. O'Malley finished with six total blocks.

Freshman setter Matthew Grace (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) orchestrated the offense with a match-high 40 assists and led the team with three aces. Freshman libero Robert Nolan (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) led the Hawks with eight digs.

For the host Kingsmen (0-3), Patrick Rowe registered seven kills and Nick Shoemate dished out 20 assists.

In the opening set, the Hawks were clicking on all cylinders and jumped out to a 9-4 lead and increased that advantage to 15-7 following a Bonilla kill. Cal Lutheran cut that lead down to six on two occasions but New Paltz enjoyed a slew of Kingsmen errors down the stretch to claim the first set.

Cal Lutheran started out hot in the second stanza, putting New Paltz in an 8-6 hole. However, the Hawks recovered nicely and used a 14-4 run to claim a 20-12 advantage, which forced the Kingsmen to call a timeout. Following the break, the Hawks used two errors by Cal Lutheran and a pair of kills by O'Malley to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

It was all Cal Lutheran in the third set as the Kingsmen used a 10-4 spurt to start the set. New Paltz managed to get within six on three different spots but could not find any rhythm as the Hawks fell 25-15 to go to set number four.

Tied at 6-all in the fourth period, the Hawks went on an 8-0 spurt capped off by a Roessler kill to take a commanding 14-6 lead. Despite leading 23-12, New Paltz let the Kingsmen back into the match as the hosts went on a 5-1 run but a service error ended the threat as the Hawks finished out the match, winning 25-17.