Box Score Poughkeepsie, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team picked up a key win in their final regular season conference game of the year over No. 14 MIT 25-21, 25-19, 26-24. The victory moved the Hawks to 16-6 overall and 7-2 in the UVC.
 
"It showed good mental toughness from the team to bounce back after yesterday's loss," said head coach Radu Petrus. "MIT is a tough opponent, so for us to pull out the sweep is a good win."
 
The Hawks dropped a tough five set match to No. 12 Vassar College the day before and came out a little sluggish against the Engineers. With three attacking errors in the first eight points, SUNY New Paltz was down 6-2 early on. However, they slowly climbed back into the set and when junior outside hitter Nick Smith stepped up the service line, the Hawks went on their run and took a 14-12 lead. MIT stayed in the set and traded points with SUNY New Paltz until the Hawks had a 21-20 lead and took the final four out of five points behind two kills from senior outside hitter Ben Cohen.
 
Trailing early on in the second set, SUNY New Paltz once again found their rhythm midway through the set with Smith serving and went on a five-point run to take a 14-10 lead. This time, the Hawks never relinquished the lead and sophomore setter Matthew Grace finished off the set with an ace to take a two sets to none lead.
 
After giving up a two set lead the day before, SUNY New Paltz knew the importance of closing out the Engineers while they had the chance. Sophomore right-side hitter Aaron Carrk picked up two kills right off the bat to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead. SUNY New Paltz continued to hold their lead, but this time MIT hit the right rotation in the middle of the set to make a run and took command with an 11-9 lead. The lead traded hands multiple times throughout the set and ended up with a tied score at 23. Carrk came up with a kill to give the Hawks their first match point, but then was blocked the next point. Junior outside hitter Bradley Schneider stepped up next with the kill and this time, SUNY New Paltz closed out the sweep.
 
Smith was the top option for Grace on offense with a match-high 14 kills, while Carrk and Cohen were right behind with nine and seven, respectively. Grace tallied an impressive 34 assists while sophomore libero Robert Nolan tallied a season-high 14 digs.
 
"The UVC is a really tough conference and to finish 7-2 is a good accomplishment," said Petrus. "We still have a lot of work to do though, our next goal is to win the conference and we know what we need to improve on to do that."
 
The Hawks finish out the regular season with three non-conference matches against Baruch, No. 1 Springfield, and Milwaukee School of Engineering on senior night April 3, at 7 p.m.