The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team enters the 2018 United Volleyball Conference tournament as the No. 3 seed and will take on Nazareth College in the opening round at Hunter College Friday. The regular season meeting between the two teams went to the Hawks in a close four-set victory.
 
"We've been a really resilient team," said junior outside hitter Nick Smith. "Just coming back off of losses we've been coming out firing and we've been working together pretty well so I'm confident with our resilience."
 
SUNY New Paltz started out the season on a shaky note, dropping two of its first four games and falling to No. 14 in the national rankings. However, a mid-season change to their starting rotation turned things around and the Hawks caught fire. Head coach Radu Petrus moved Cole from the middle to opposite and the offense started to click as SUNY New Paltz finished the second half of its season 13-3, which included two four-set losses to No. 1 Springfield College.
 
The Hawks come into the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the country, but they know that anything can happen in a playoff setting.
 
"UVC is one of the toughest conferences in the country so we can't take anything for granted," said senior opposite Ryan Cole. "We know the only game we're guaranteed to play in is tomorrow against Naz so that's what we're focusing on right now and if we're fortunate enough to make it through the weekend, our big goal is to get to that championship game Sunday."

SUNY New Paltz narrowly escaped the Golden Flyers in the regular season as it won 25-14, 18-25, 25-23, 25-20. After dropping the second set, the Hawks were in serious trouble in the third set, trailing early 11-3. However, Cole stepped up for SUNY New Paltz and rattled off nine kills in the set along with two aces to account for 11 of the Hawks 25 points.

Nazareth College lost six of their last eight matches heading into the tournament, however, the Golden Flyers had solid performances in their final two UVC matches against NYU and Stevens. Against the Violets, each set was decided by three points or less with a final score of 25-23, 22-25, 25-22, 26-24. The following day against the Ducks, it was another tightly contested match with Stevens winning in four sets 25-20, 31-33, 25-11, 33-31. 

Nazareth College is led offensively by Zachary Gillard who has recorded 296 kills on the season at a rate of 2.85 per set, while Sam Bittker is its second option who has tallied 211 kills. SUNY New Paltz did a good job limiting both hitters in the regular season as they only combined for 17 kills throughout the four-set match. 

"Just like any other game this season we have to stick to our game plan and what Radu and Tony are telling us," said Cole. "We just have to outplay the other team in all aspects of the game, mentally and physically."
 
Smith and Cole are two of the most dominant hitters on the pins in the country as they both have collected AVCA Player of the Week honors, the only two from the same team to do so this season. Smith picked up his honor on Feb. 27 after a record-setting 30 kill performance against St. Joseph's College – Long Island. Cole added his less than month later on March 20 after two dominant performances totaling 45 kills on a .417 hitting percentage in wins against No. 10 NYU and No. 2 Stevens.
 
An important new addition for the Hawks is middle blocker Nick O'Malley, who recently returned from a nagging season-long injury. The sophomore saw the court early in the season in a five-set win over Harvard University where he posted 13 kills on a .500 hitting percentage. However, his play was limited for most of the season, until the last two matches of the season where he picked up seven kills against No. 1 Springfield College and Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). O'Malley adds a key threat out of the middle for the Hawks offense to help alleviate some pressure from their hitters on the pins.
 
The powerful offense for SUNY New Paltz, which is top-five in the country in kills per set and assists per set, relies heavily on superb play from two sophomores, libero Robert Nolan and setter Matthew Grace. Nolan and Grace have provided the most consistent play on the court all season long for the Hawks as they have both played in every match except for the senior night win over MSOE. Nolan averages a team-high 2.07 digs per set, but one of his most important contributions is his ability to pass the opponents serve. Despite being on the reception line for almost every serve this season, Nolan has only picked up 25 reception errors, averaging out to .29 per set. Grace is the main recipient of Nolan's consistent passing, and distributes the ball throughout the offense for the Hawks. Grace averages 9.54 assists per set, totaling 811 on the season.

"I'm feeling pretty good," said Smith. "We've been working really hard in practices and our comradery together, coming together as a unit has been really good. We just have to focus on the passing and the serving game. We've been doing that pretty well, but coming in if we do those things well we should be able to run tally and win the tournament.
 
SUNY New Paltz takes on Nazareth College at Hunter College on Friday at 7:30 p.m. To see the full bracket and schedule click here! Be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook for updates, highlights, videos, photos and more.