Box Score Mahwah, NJ - The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team got back to their winnings ways after a dominant sweep of Ramapo College 25-15, 25-17, 25-16. The Hawks entered the contest on 10 days rest after dropping a straight-set decision to No. 11 Marymount University.

SUNY New Paltz jumped out to a quick lead in the opening set 11-4 with sophomore setter Matthew Grace distributing the ball to multiple offensive weapons as four different players recorded a kill in the opening 15 points. The Hawks never looked back and ran away with the opening set thanks to a couple highlight plays from Grace. Up 18-9 SUNY New Paltz passed a ball dangerously close to the net, but Grace was able to elevate and deliver a one-handed back-set to Aaron Carrk who easily put the ball away as the Road Runners were completely fooled by Grace's play. The following point Carrk gave a tough jump serve to Ramapo College who over-passed the serve and Grace jumped up to pound the ball back at the unsuspecting defense of Ramapo.

The Roadrunners came out firing in the second set and traded points with the Hawks to up to 7-7, but with three service errors from Ramapo College and three kills from Nick Smith in the next 15 points the Hawks were able to pull ahead 15-12 midway through the set. Smith had the hot hand for the Hawks in set two tallying six kills and one service ace to help seal a 25-17 victory.

One set away from the sweep, SUNY New Paltz wasn't going to give the Roadrunners any breathing room and never trailed in the final set. Nick Denoncourt assisted on two blocks to open the scoring in the third set for the Hawks and then backed up his defensive prowess with a kill out of the middle to push the lead to 4-1. After a mini-run by Ramapo College, Grace once again relied on a balanced attack to push the lead back up. Up 5-4 the Hawks ran four straight points off kills from four different players, Carrk, Ryan Cole, Bradley Schneider, and Ben Cohen, respectively. The final set was dominated by SUNY New Paltz the rest of the way and they sealed the sweep with a 25-16 win.

Although it was an impressive performance from the Hawks, head coach Radu Petrus knows there still needs to be improvement to get his team to the level they want to be at. "We improved a little bit more since our last performance, but Ramapo didn't push us as much as other teams in our conference will," said Petrus. "We're still improving and it's good stuff, but we have a lot of room for improving especially in receiving and setting. We've been without Anthony Bonilla, so maybe once he comes back he can give us the extra boost we need."

Smith paced the Hawks offensively with 11 kills and Carrk tallied nine of his own, but it was a true team effort on offense as eight other players recorded a kill in the match. Grace was the main setter for SUNY New Paltz throughout the match and he recorded 28 assists on the day. Sophomore libero Robert Nolan ran the back line posting a match-high seven kills.

The Hawks have more time to improve their skills as their next match is at the Springfield College International Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic on Feb. 9 where they will take on Divion I opponent Harvard University.