Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Patchogue, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team took out St. Joseph's College - Patchogue and Emmanuel 
College thanks to two dominant offensive performances.

The Hawks took on the hosting Golden Eagles in the opening match of the day and junior outside hitter Nick Smith led the team to a four-set victory (25-15, 28-26, 19-25, 25-20) after posting 30 kills with just four errors on 47 attempts for a .553 hitting percentage.

At 24-24 in a crucial second set, sophomore setter Matthew Grace turned to the hot hand of Smith, setting him from the back row to give the Hawks their first set-point. A few points later, a double block from Tevin Skeete and Grace gave SUNY New Paltz the 28-26 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. Through two sets, Smith recorded 14 kills and was able to establish himself as the top option for Grace and the Hawks offense.

After dropping the third set, SUNY New Paltz knew it was important to jump out quick in the fourth set and it did just that with senior Matt Goldberg at the serving line to help the Hawks gain a 4-0 lead. With the Golden Eagles climbing back into the set, Smith recorded back-to-back kills pushing the lead back up to four points at 11-7. SUNY New Paltz held the advantage throughout from then on and with match point at 24-20, Smith notched his 30^th kill to seal the victory.

The Hawks got right back on the court to take on Emmanuel College and the offense continued to fire on all cylinders, posting a .338 team hitting percentage. Senior co-captain Ryan Cole built off of his performance at home against SUNY Polytechnic Institute on the right side and led the Hawks with 11 kills on 17 attempts with only two errors for a .529 hitting percentage. 

SUNY New Paltz defeated Emmanuel College handily 25-15, 25-17, 25-18 to complete its undefeated week and push its record to 9-4 overall.

Grace tallied 83 assists in the two matches, leading the offense with a steady hand as usual with zero ball handling errors. Sophomore libero Robert Nolan led the back line with 21 total digs.

"All team members did well today," said Hawks coach Radu Petrus. "Nick Smith was in the top of this, played well all around, good serve receiver and really great offense. With Ryan Cole in the right side and with his competitive back row spike, we have balance in our offense, [which makes it] more difficult for our opponents. It was a good repetition for us
before March matches with top DIII opponents."
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action at home on Sunday, March 4 against nationally ranked UC Santa Cruz and Dominican College. For updates, scores, recaps and everything #NPHawks, be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook.