Box Score Lancaster, PA – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team started their season off with a dominant offensive performance against Lancaster Bible College in a three-set sweep 25-15, 25-22, 27-25. The Hawks hit an impressive .329 offensively while also playing solid defense and holding the Chargers to a .095 hitting percentage.
 
SUNY New Paltz entered the match as the No. 3 ranked team in the AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll and ran away with the opening set, which was sealed by a massive double block from Aaron Carrk and Nick Denoncourt. However, Lancaster Bible wasn't going to give in, and with a raucous crowd behind them they battled point for point with the Hawks in the final two sets.
 
A Nick Smith kill gave the Hawks a 13-8 lead early in set two, but the Chargers caught fire and won seven of the next nine points to even up the set at 15. Following back-to-back service aces from Lancaster Bible's Nate Miller, head coach Radu Petrus called a timeout to re-focus the back line. After a missed serve from Miller, senior blocker Nick Denoncourt stepped up to the serving line and helped rally the Hawks, winning the final four points to take a two sets to none lead.
 
The disappointing end to set two didn't stop the Chargers from giving SUNY New Paltz everything they had in set three. The rollercoaster third set led to a set point for the Chargers at 25-24, but back-to-back kills from Ben Cohen quickly erased the deficit and led to a 27-25 victory for the Hawks off an attack error from Kole Horst.

Co-Captain Ryan Cole was impressed with the team's ability to hang tough and pull out the win. "Lancaster was a very scrappy team and gave us a really good fight," said Cole. "However, we were able to stay composed and locked in towards the end of set three and make the plays we needed to to end up winning the match."
 
Bradley Schneider, who recorded 11 kills on 23 attempts with three errors, led the efficient offensive performance by the Hawks. The balanced attack also saw big contributions from Nick Smith, Ben Cohen, and Aaron Carrk who chipped in eight, seven, and seven kills, respectively.
 
The offense was distributed through the hands of Mitchell Kennedy and Matthew Grace, tallying 23 and 13 assists, respectively. Kennedy also led the defensive effort notching seven digs, while outsides Schneider and Cohen weren't far behind with six and five, respectively.
 
Lancaster Bible fed Miller throughout the entire match as he tallied 48 attack attempts with 21 kills and nine errors. The one-manned offense was backed up by some scrappy defensive play from their libero Kurt Maysilles who recorded a game-high 10 kills, but it wasn't enough to thwart the balanced attack of SUNY New Paltz.
 
The Hawks are back in action tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. against Eastern Mennonite University, who will be playing their season opener.