Box Score New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team remained perfect at home after sweeping the Sage Colleges 25-19, 25-19, 25-15. The United Volleyball Conference matchup improved the Hawks record to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play while dropping the Gators to 7-8 overall and 1-2 in conference.
 
Head coach Radu Petrus changed around his starting six once again for the UVC tilt attempting to find the perfect rotation. Petrus moved senior co-captain Ryan Cole to right side and played him in a full rotation, allowing Cole to hit from the back row. Replacing Cole in the middle was sophomore Tevin Skeete, who was coming off a monster performance in SUNY New Paltz's last game against Bard College.
 
"We're still looking for the best six," said Petrus. "Hopefully with Ryan Cole in the opposite position we have more options. He did a good job today and in the future we can get more combinations in this rotation if we can get Nick O'Malley back and Anthony Bonilla at full power."
 
The new rotation got off to a shaky start for the Hawks as they were trading points with Sage in the opening set. With the score tied at 10-10 a powerful kill by senior middle blocker Nick Denoncourt and then a double block from Tevin Skeete and Bradley Schneider gave SUNY New Paltz some separation. They never trailed for the rest of the set, but with the Gators closing the gap at 16-15, Denoncourt stepped up again with a kill out of the middle. At 23-19 a Bailey Cecchi service error gave the Hawks their first set point and junior outside hitter Nick Smith left no doubt on a big attack on the outside to close out the set.
 
The momentum carried into the second set for SUNY New Paltz with Cole leading the charge racking up three kills and a block in the first seven points earned for the Hawks. Sage started to claw back into the set again, but Smith went to the serving line at 12-9 and targeted Ryan Guyton for two straight service aces. At 15-10 SUNY New Paltz was looking to broaden the gap and they did just that as sophomore setter Matthew Grace helped run four straight points and garnering kills from three different players. The lead was too much for the Gators to come back from and at 24-19 senior outside hitter Anthony Bonilla fought through his injury landing a massive kill to close out the set.
 
Smith got the ball rolling for the Hawks in the third set with three straight kills for SUNY New Paltz as the Hawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead. The Hawks continued to hold the slight advantage throughout the set and at 15-12 another Cecchi service error allowed the Hawks to run four straight points, which was capped off by a kill from Skeete. Up 21-15 Cole helped close out the match with two kills in the final four points for SUNY New Paltz.
 
"Any UVC match we play is always going to be tough," said Cole. "These UVC teams give it everything they got and we take pride in defending our home court and putting on a show for our fans."
 
Cole thrived in the new position racking up 13 kills with three errors on 22 attempts for a .455 hitting percentage while Smith once again led the way with 15 kills and four errors on 22 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. Denoncourt, Skeete, and Bradley Schneider also played well in the sweep with a combined 13 kills and zero errors on 19 attempts.
 
"Whatever coach needs me to do is what I want to do for the team to make us better and to help us succeed," said Cole on his new spot in the rotation.
 
Grace tallied an impressive 40 assists in the match as well as four digs and two kills. Sophomore libero Robert Nolan was stellar on the back line for the Hawks picking up some key digs and finished the day with a match-high eight digs.
 
"We still have a lot of matches left to play," said Petrus on moving to 2-1 in UVC play. "There are a lot of tough teams in this conference and it's too early to predict what will happen moving forward."
 
After three straight conference matches the Hawks will have a chance to tweak their lineup more as they head to St. Joseph's College – Patchogue for a tri-match with the Golden Eagles and Emmanuel College on Saturday.