Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 New Paltz, NY – Fresh off some much needed rest from the previous weekend's tournament, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's volleyball team swept the opening day of the Hawk Invite. The Hawks opened up the tournament with a four-set victory over the Sage Colleges and followed that up with another four-set win over Montclair State.
 
In the opening set of the tournament the Hawks came out swinging putting down 12 kills on 24 attempts with a .292 hitting percentage taking the set 25-9. However, Sage wasn't going to back down and fired back in the second set winning 25-18 to even the match.
 
The Hawks regained form in the next two sets winning 25-15 and 25-17, respectively. The Hawks dominated the offensive end finishing the match with 53 kills compared to 18 from Sage.
 
Taylor Cimillo led the way with an impressive .419 hitting percentage on 31 attempts with 16 kills. Kerri Neville, Maddie Van Pelt, and Emma Hines also had an impressive showing with 11,10, and 9 kills respectively.
 
Maddie Zwickl ran the balanced offense finishing the match with 46 assists. Fellow senior Veronica Matedero led the defense at the libero position with 13 digs.
 
The second match of the day for New Paltz started out the same way as the Hawks jumped all over the Red Hawks of Montclair St. taking the opening set 25-9.
 
The following set was back and forth until 15-15 when back-to-back kills from Hines started a five-point run for the Hawks and they never looked back taking the set 25-22.
 
Montclair St. wasn't giving up just yet, taking the third set 25-22. The Hawks didn't want a repeat of the previous weekend when they dropped a two sets to none lead to Kean University, but after getting down 17-12 things were looking for New Paltz. As they slowly chipped away at the Red Hawks lead New Paltz found their mojo when Caleigh Carr stepped up to serve down 19-16. The Hawks went on a 5 point run taking the lead 21-19. However, the match wasn't over yet and the Hawks had to fight off two match points.
 
Down 24-23 Zwickl stepped out of her normal role as setter and took a swing on the right side and was able to tool the Montclair St. block tying the set. The Red Hawks fought right back taking the next point by blocking a Julie Greenspan attempt. A Cimillo kill tied the set at 25-25 and then Van Pelt put the match away with a kill up 26-25.
 
Cimillo and Van Pelt both racked up 15 kills in the match while Hines was right behind with 13. Zwickl once again led the way in assists finishing with 49. Matedero put up an impressive 22 digs and was a solid force in the Hawks serve-receive for the match.
 
The Hawks now stand at 4-2 on the season and face off against Mount Saint Mary at 11 a.m. tomorrow followed by a match vs. Montclair St. at 3 p.m.