Box Score

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – In a rematch of last year's national championship contest, the No. 3 State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team fell to visiting No. 1 Springfield 3-1 (17-25, 25-23, 15-25, 20-25) on Wednesday night in the Hawk Center.

With the defeat, the Hawks move to 16-4 and will prepare to host No. 15 Juniata on Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m., which marks the program's Alumni Night. The Pride improve to 17-1 on the season and are now riding a 17-match winning streak.

Despite the loss, the Hawks did manage to snap the Pride's 34-set winning streak with the second-set victory. This was Springfield's first set loss since Jan. 28 at NYU.

Seven players recorded at least three kills for the New Paltz attack, led by seven kills apiece from senior co-captains Steven Woessner (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) and Jake Roessler (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa).

Junior Anthony Bonilla (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) finished with six kills, five digs and two aces while freshman Aaron Carrk (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem) chipped in five kills. Nick O'Malley tallied four kills and sophomore Bradley Schneider (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) and junior Ryan Cole (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) both contributed three kills each.

Freshman setter Matthew Grace (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) and sophomore setter Nick Smith (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) distributed 18 and 11 assists, respectively.

For Springfield, Luis Vega – the reigning AVCA National Player of the Week – tallied a match-high 13 kills. Trevor Mattson contributed 10 kills for the Pride.

The first set was back-and-forth as New Paltz trailed by just one (13-12) following an ace by Bonilla. However, Springfield went on an 8-0 run to claim a commanding 21-12 lead and despite a little rally from the Hawks, New Paltz fell 25-17 in the opener.

Trailing 17-12 in set number two, New Paltz remained poised and battled back from the deficit, tying the set at 18-all. The Pride responded and took a 23-19 lead but the Hawks closed out the period on a 6-0 run; scoring points on five straight Woessner serves, to take the second set, 25-23.

Springfield jumped out to a 16-9 advantage in the third set and cruised to a 25-16 victory to take a 2-1 match lead. In the last set, the Hawks trailed by as many as five points but managed to knot the contest at 17-all. Unfortunately, the Pride closed out the match on an 8-3 run to take the set, 25-20.