The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team is headed back to the gym where they fell in last year's national championship match, but will have a chance at redemption in the International Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic at Springfield College. However, to face the Pride the Hawks will have to go through Division I opponent, Harvard University.
 
Although SUNY New Paltz will be taking on their toughest opponent yet this season in the Crimson, sophomore setter Matthew Grace and the rest of the Hawks are embracing their underdog status and believe they can give Harvard a tough match.
 
"We had a rocky start to the season, but I think we're trending upwards," said Grace.  "Facing a Division I opponent is a really good opportunity for us to get some good competition and to use the underdog mentality and go out there and just play."
 
SUNY New Paltz has been without their top offensive weapon, Anthony Bonilla, to begin their season and he is still questionable to return for the weekend games. However, a 10-day break between games after falling in straight sets to the current No. 5 team in the country Marymount University, the Hawks started to click in a sweep of Ramapo College 25-15, 25-17, 25-16 on Jan. 31. Junior right side hitter Nick Smith led the offensive charge with 11 kills, but SUNY New Paltz saw 10 players record a kill in the dominant victory over the Roadrunners as well as a season-high .435 team hitting percentage.
 
Smith leads the Hawks on the season with 3.12 kills per set while Aaron Carrk, Ben Cohen, and Bradley Schneider are also key contributors with 2.4, 2.13, and 1.93 kills per set, respectively. Head coach Radu Petrus has been toying around with different rotations throughout the early part of the season and both Grace and Mitchell Kennedy have seen action setting the ball averaging 5.94 and 5.69 assists per set, respectively.
 
Harvard University is also off to a shaky start with a 1-4 record, including a 5-set loss to Springfield College in late January. The Crimson have been struggling offensively, only hitting .191 on the season. SUNY New Paltz has spent a good amount of their practice time in-between games working on defense and blocking so it will be key for them to hold Harvard to a low hitting percentage.
 
"We've been focusing on a lot of blocking and a lot of defense," said Grace. "With these teams out here they've been putting a lot of pressure on us to come up with plays on defense so we've been trying to focus on that."
 
The other semifinal matchup will be the host, Springfield College, against Stevenson University. The Hawks took on the Mustangs earlier this season and completed an incredible comeback from two sets down. Although playing either team would be a great matchup, Grace said that the team obviously wants to see Springfield again.
 
The weekend will consist of more than just playing for all the teams involved as there will be an opening banquet at the Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, MA at noon on Friday. Saturday morning will then consist of a clinic run by the coaches and players of the tournament. From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. SUNY New Paltz and Harvard University will team up to teach concepts at the players clinic such as attacking options and team defense. Finally, between the matches on Saturday night there will be a spiking contest. Each team will choose one representative and once the player's spike contacts the floor the clock will start, it will then stop once the ball hits the floor for the second time. The player with the longest bounce is the winner.
 
The Hawks take on the Crimson at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and the consolation round will be at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday followed up by the championship match at 8:00 p.m.