Box Score New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up for their 2018 home campaign with a bang as they swept the Wildcats of SUNY Polytechnic 25-16, 25-14, 25-21. It was a dominant offensive performance from the Hawks recording a .508 team hitting percentage for the match.
 
SUNY New Paltz started out back and forth with the Wildcats, but as the home crowd slowly started to pour in the Hawks jumped in front to an 8-3 lead behind powerful play from senior Mitchell Kennedy. Kennedy powered the ball through the block on the right side to tie the opening set at 3-3 and backed it up with two straight aces to give SUNY New Paltz the momentum.
 
"We served better today," said head coach Radu Petrus. "I think we got ahead and served well because we were playing in our own gym. We will see if we can keep it up at Bard this weekend and continue to serve tough."
 
The jump serves from the Hawks were too much to handle for the back line of SUNY Polytechnic in the opening set as they struggled to stay in system and after the run from Kennedy the Hawks ran away with the set. SUNY New Paltz held the Wildcats to a zero hitting percentage with six kills and six errors on 29 attempts while they tallied 13 kills with two errors on 21 swings for a .524 hitting percentage.
 
However, the highlight of the opening set came at 9-4 when Matthew Grace sent back two straight attacks from the Wildcats, and when they tested him a third time Grace left no doubt and blocked the ball straight down giving the entire Hawk Center a boost of energy.
 
The second set began as the Nick Smith show with Smith recording three kills in the first six points to help the Hawks jump out to a 6-1 advantage. Later in the set at 15-9, Smith stepped up again with a powerful kill on the right side and then a four-point service run backed by two aces to help seal the second set.
 
Smith was unstoppable in the opening two sets tallying 10 kills on 12 attempts with no errors. The hot streak continued for Smith to start the third set as he recorded a back-row kill to bring the score to 2-3. He finally showed his human side at 10-6 when the Wildcats blocked him for his first, and only attacking error of the match. He finished the match with 14 kills and one error on 17 attempts for an outstanding .765 hitting percentage.
 
"I prayed for this day," said Petrus. "For him to have .700 is great, because in the past he couldn't go over .200 so it was very good and he placed his serve in good spots as well."
 
The Hawks controlled the tempo of the match for all three sets with the energy of the home crowd behind them, including a 5-minute delay due to the lights going out. Up 10-5 in the second set the lights went dark, but the fans stayed put and kept the energy up by singing along to "Sweet Caroline."
 
The third set was more tough serving and efficient hitting for the Hawks as they slowly built their lead throughout the set until 21-14 when Petrus was able to start getting more players in the game. Sophomore outside hitter Aaron Carrk made an immediate impact off the bench for SUNY New Paltz with a strategic tip-kill over the block in his first point on the court. A few points later Carrk recorded another kill to put the Hawks one point away from clinching the match. A Piotr Kasza service error closed out the dominant three-set sweep for SUNY New Paltz.
 
"The first one home is always crazy with the fans and everything," said Smith. "Putting on a show for the crowd, it's just a great experience coming out hot."
 
Smith also posted seven digs to compliment his offensive performance, second only to sophomore libero Robert Nolan who tallied eight.
 
Grace distributed the ball offensively for the Hawks racking up 30 assists. Bradley Schneider, Kennedy, and Nick Denoncourt also had solid games on the offensive end recording seven, six, and five kills respectively. Senior co-captain and middle hitter Ryan Cole had three kills and one error on six attempts, but also threw in a surprising three assists on out of system plays.
 
"It definitely feels good, like I said, because it is the first home game and to get that one under our belt, but we still have a lot of work to do," said Smith. "A lot of little things we need to clean up, because we want that national championship and there is a lot of work we need to do to get that at the end."
 
SUNY New Paltz opens up UVC play on Sat. and Sun. against Elmira and Bard College, respectively.