Box Score The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team took out No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology in a straight-set victory 25-20, 26-24, 25-21. The win puts the Hawks in control of their own destiny in the United Volleyball Conference as they move to 6-1 in conference play with two matches remaining against No. 13 Vassar College and No. 14 MIT. SUNY New Paltz has now won 10 of their last 11 games and six straight in the UVC.

The Hawks had arguably their best offensive performance of the season as the team recorded a .410 hitting percentage on the match against the Stevens defense that holds opponents on average to a .153 hitting percentage. 

Junior outside hitter Nick Smith started out hot for SUNY New Paltz recording two kills and an ace in the first three points earned for the Hawks. Leading 5-4, SUNY New Paltz made their first big run of the match after a kill by sophomore middle hitter Tevin Skeete recorded a kill to put Ryan Cole at the serving line. Cole rattled off four straight points, capped off by two consecutive aces to push the lead to 10-4. The Ducks slowly climbed back into the set and brought the score back to 16-14, but Cole ended their run and kept the Hawks in control. Up 23-20, Smith closed out the first set for SUNY New Paltz with a kill and an ace on back to back points.

The second set started out back and forth, but at 12-12 Stevens made a four-point run to take control of the set. However, a few points later the Hawks found the right rotation again with Cole at the serving line and made a run to take back the lead at 18-17. With the score knotted up at 23, Grace turned to his middle hitter and Skeete gave SUNY New Paltz their first set point. Gabe Shankweiler answered back for the Ducks and saved the match point with a kill of his own. Grace turned to his two hot hitters on the final two points though as Smith and Cole finished off the set with back to back kills. 

With the chance to close out the second-ranked team in the country in straight sets, the Hawks took an early lead and never trailed in the third set. A block by Smith and senior middle blocker Nick Denoncourt got the set started and Grace followed it up at the serving line pushing the lead to 3-0. Stevens wasn't going anywhere and kept the set close, but up 13-11 Cole once again came up big with back to back kills making it a four-point game at 15-11. SUNY New Paltz continued to hold the lead and coming out of a Stevens timeout at 21-16, Denoncourt came up with a big ace to keep a strong command of the lead. The Ducks attempted a late comeback, but the lead was too much to surmount and a service error on match point gave the Hawks the win.

Cole continued his recent offensive surge with a match-high 19 kills and an impressive .452 hitting percentage. Senior co-captain Anthony Bonilla, Smith, and Skeete all recorded a hitting percentage of .500 with eight, 11, and seven kills, respectively. Smith also recorded a match-high four aces. Grace spread the ball around with 43 assists and put his hitters in good position to hit efficiently.

The Hawks now take control at the top of the UVC and have the ability to host playoffs if they win their final two conference games. SUNY New Paltz heads to Poughkeepsie next weekend to take on No. 13 Vassar and No. 14 MIT. Be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook for updates, highlights, videos, photos and more.