Box Score New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team came up with a big United Volleyball Conference win over Nazareth College in four sets, 25-14, 18-25, 25-23, 25-20. The Hawks have now won eight of their last nine and move ahead of the Golden Flyers in the conference standings with a record of 4-1.
 
The Hawks dominated the opening set from the start as they jumped out to a 9-1 lead behind great serving by junior outside hitter Nick Smith. Smith rattled off two aces during the run, while senior middle blocker Nick Denoncourt was in on three blocks. Denoncourt kept the momentum going a few points later with a powerful serving ace to push the score to  12-2. Nazareth slowly started to settle into the match, but the lead was too big to make a comeback from and they dropped the opening set 25-14.
 
The little confidence the Golden Flyers picked up from the end of the first set carried into the second and they were able to make a run of their own. With the set still up for grabs at 13-10 in favor of Nazareth, Tyler Farnung helped them make a five-point throwing in some tough serves to keep SUNY New Paltz out of system. Leading 18-10, the Golden Flyers were able to cruise through the rest of the set and tie up the match.
 
"After winning the first game so easily I think we relaxed and thought we would be able to dominate the rest of the match," said head coach Radu Petrus. "They didn't approach the next set with the right mentality and Nazareth made some great adjustments to keep us out of system."
 
The momentum had clearly shifted in favor of the Golden Flyers and after two consecutive aces that hit the tape and rolled over the net to make the score 7-2, everything seemed to be falling the right way for Nazareth. Down 3-11 senior co-captain Ryan Cole stepped up and delivered the serving run the Hawks needed with back-to-back aces and then a back row kill one point later. Cole helped them bring the score back to 8-11 and the set was up for grabs. Sophomore setter Matthew Grace continued to turn to Cole throughout the set and he racked up two consecutive kills to make the crucial third set a one-point game at 15-16. With the score tied at 18 a long rally ended up with Denoncourt taking the second ball following a Matthew Grace dig and he threw up a perfect set to Cole who recorded a kill on the outside to give the Hawks their first lead of the set. However, Nazareth answered right back with a three-point run to take back the lead at 21-19. Once again, Grace turned to Cole who recorded four kills in the final six points won for the Hawks to close out the set 25-23.
 
Cole recorded nine kills in the second set, but the highlight of the day came from the senior defensive specialist Matt Goldberg. Goldberg was subbed in at 24-23 to serve for Tevin Skeete, and with the Hawk Center at the edge of their seats, he delivered a bomb and aced the Golden Flyers to seal the two sets to one lead.
 
"I just went in ready to miss," said Goldberg. "So I swung as hard as I could and served for ace just like coach says, so it was really hype to get that."
 
SUNY New Paltz had regained their energy and momentum of the opening set and they took control of the pace of the game in the fourth set. Keeping Nazareth on their heels and out of system with tough serving, the Hawks didn't let them back into the set after gaining an early lead and they walked away with a vital four-set conference win.
 
"It was a huge UVC win," said Goldberg. "Ryan Cole took a little break in the second set and came back in the third and played awesome. Any conference win is big, the UVC is the best conference in the country and we're ready for next weekend."
 
Cole dominated the match offensively racking up a match-high 21 kills with 39 attempts and seven errors for a .359 hitting percentage. Smith also had an efficient performance on the offensive end tallying 14 kills on 25 attempts with only three errors for a .440 hitting percentage. Grace distributed the ball for the offense as usual and recorded 34 assists, but also threw in three kills on well-executed attacks on the second touch. Sophomore libero Robert Nolan was key on the defensive end tallying 11 digs, while Cole chipped in 10 to give himself a double-double on the day.
 
"We won that third game because of Ryan Cole," said Petrus. "We switched up our offensive strategy and he was key in our win today. It was a great victory for us in terms of playoff standings, but also to give our guys more confidence in the system we run."
 
SUNY New Paltz now heads into the heart of their UVC schedule as they take on No. 2 Stevens and No. 9 NYU next weekend in Albany, and then No. 12 Vassar and No. 14 MIT the following weekend.