Box Score Springfield, MA - The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team was coming off a big win against Harvard University, but couldn't keep the momentum rolling and fell to No. 1 Springfield College 25-19, 25-10, 25-22. 

The Hawks got off to a quick start against the top ranked Pride thanks to a highlight play from sophomore setter Matthew Grace diving away from the net and pushing a back set to Aaron Carrk who put the ball past the block to push the score to 4-1. SUNY New Paltz continued to control the momentum after a Nick O'Malley and Carrk double block making it 7-3 early in the match. However, that's when Springfield College hit their stride and went on an 11-2 tear to take a 14-9 lead. The Hawks continued to fight back and eventually brought it back to a two point game down 18-20, but they were unable to complete the comeback and fell 25-19.

The second set was controlled from the opening serve by the Pride and after jumping out to a 9-0 lead, SUNY New Paltz was unable to claw their way back into the set and found themselves down two sets to none.

The Hawks had come back from two sets down once before this season against Stevenson University, so they knew what it would take to make the improbable comeback. Early in the third set a Bradley Schneider kill gave SUNY New Paltz a 7-5 lead. The Pride were able to over come the early deficit, but a kill from senior co-captain Ryan Cole knotted up the must-win set at 15. Unfortunately, Springfield took back control of the set and up 23-22 they were able to close out the set and match 25-22.

Senior co-captain Anthony Bonilla returned to the court for the Hawks for the first time this season, but only as a defensive specialist and the offense didn't quite have enough firepower to overtake the Pride. It was a balanced attack as four players recorded at least five kills, but with a team hitting percentage of .059 the offense wasn't efficient enough to pull off the upset. Grace posted a match-high 27 assists in the loss.

The Hawks return to the court for their home opener on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 7:00 p.m. against SUNY Polytechnic.