The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team has made the NCAA finals their past two seasons, and it doesn't plan on ending that streak in its 2018 campaign. However, the Hawks compete in one of the toughest conferences in the country, and play a schedule that includes seven of the preseason's top-15 teams, so nothing will come easy to the reigning NCAA finalists.
Co-Captain and senior
Anthony Bonilla knows it will be a long and difficult season, but he has the experience to help guide SUNY New Paltz to another deep postseason run. "Mostly I've been telling them to stay healthy, and definitely work on your craft," said Bonilla. "Don't overlook the minor details and definitely listen to the older guys because we've been there before and had the experience of being in the national championship game, UVC Championship games and to listen to the minor things we tell them."
Following a dominant 2016 season, which culminated in a national championship, the Hawks struggled to hit their stride early on in their title defending season. Heading into the 2017 United Volleyball Conference Tournament as the fourth seed, SUNY New Paltz knew it had to make a run into the finals if it wanted to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament. After sweeping MIT in the quarterfinals, the Hawks were matched up against the No. 2 ranked team in the country and host of the UVC tournament, Vassar College. Two weeks earlier the Brewers topped SUNY New Paltz, 17-15 in the fifth set, but after taking a momentum changing first set, 34-32, the Hawks were able to defeat Vassar on their home floor and punch their ticket to the UVC finals.
Backed by their UVC tournament run, SUNY New Paltz was able to secure its chance at defending their National Championship, but had a difficult path to the finals. They traveled to Kean University for the opening round and squeaked out a five set victory 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 25-27, 15-13 to advance and faced the Brewers for the third time that season. The rubber match was a decisive three-set sweep, vaulting them into the semifinals against Wentworth Institute of Technology. The Hawks took a five-set victory for the second time in the tournament and locked up a re-match of last year's national title game against Springfield College. The postseason run ended there for SUNY New Paltz in a four-set defeat, but the Hawks plan on making another run at the title in 2018.
Although they graduated some key starters from last year's team, co-captain
Ryan Cole is still confident that they have the pieces to compete at the top. "Losing players last year, those seniors and that class did an amazing job at influencing us to do our best, but even with those losses I think guys are ready to step up," said Cole. "We're a young team and we're ready to get after it."
SUNY New Paltz opens the season as the No. 3 team in the nation, and are confident it can remain one of the top teams in the country, despite a difficult in-and-out of conference schedule. A pair of matchups against No. 1 ranked Springfield College highlight the 2018 schedule, but the Hawks will face multiple other teams in the preseason top-15. They will also take on five other teams in the top 10: Stevens (2), Vassar (4), NYU (5), Dominican (7), and UC Santa Cruz (8). Rounding out the schedule of preseason ranked opponents includes MIT (12) and Marymount (14).
Bonilla and the Hawks know they can put a lot of talented players out on the court, so one of their main focuses has been on chemistry. "Our focus has been a lot on defense, but especially on team chemistry making sure everybody is familiar with each other so we can be able to work well together on the court."
The season opens up Jan. 16 for the men's volleyball team at Lancaster Bible College, but with only a little over a week of practice before their first game, head coach
Radu Petrus knows there will be a little growing period. "We will find out how ready we are after this first week," said Petrus. "We also have a lot of players who are dealing with some injuries right now, but we have a chance to put a team together and be ready to go. If we can get through the first few matches we have ten days off where myself and Tony will be able to make some adjustments."
Following the match up against Lancaster Bible, the Hawks travel to Eastern Mennonite University the next day, followed by Stevenson and No. 14 Marymount University Friday. The home opener for the Hawks isn't until Feb. 14 against SUNY Polytechnic.
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