Box Score New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team celebrated senior day with a four-set win over Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19. Anthony Bonilla, Matt Goldberg, Ben Cohen, Yorman Escobar, Nick Denoncourt, Mitchell Kennedy, and Ryan Cole were all honored in a brief pre-game ceremony. All seven seniors were members of the 2016 national championship team as well as semifinalists in 2015 and finalists in 2017.
 
"These seniors have meant a lot to the program," said head coach Radu Petrus. "They have been very successful in terms of winning, but they have grown into great leaders and it was good to see all seven go out there and win today."
 
The all senior starting lineup got out to an early two-point lead, but the Raiders were the first to make a big push as made a four-point run to go up 11-9. However, the Hawks came alive after that and won the next eight of 11 points, which included two well-placed service aces from Cole and Goldberg. MSOE wasn't backing down yet, and they bounced back into the lead at 18-17, but Cohen ended the run with a powerful kill on the outside to tie up the set. Leading 22-21, the SUNY New Paltz seniors got some help from sophomore middle hitter Nick O'Malley who recorded two kills in the final three points to secure the opening set.
 
The Hawks offense hit a slump in the second set, recording their lowest team hitting percentage of the match at .160. Leading 9-8, four errors from SUNY New Paltz powered a six-point run for the Raiders as they took control of the set at 14-9. The Hawks slowly climbed back into the set, but after a Cole kill saved the first set point, MSOE was able to side out at 24-23 off a good run from the middle and tie up the match.
 
The offense responded with a match-high 15 kills in the third set for a .333 hitting percentage. Cohen was on fire for the Hawks in the crucial set, racking up eight kills and a .600 percentage.
 
"I felt good out there," said Cohen. "Right before warm-ups I told Mitchell to feed me a good amount and he listened and we came out with the [win]. But, it wasn't just me out there it was a good team win."
 
SUNY New Paltz carried the momentum from the third set into the fourth as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind the serving of Escobar. Once again, MSOE answered right back and made a couple runs of their own to eventually take a slight 14-13 advantage. A service error from the Raiders allowed Escobar to step back up to the serving line and keep MSOE out of system again. Escober powered the Hawks to a vital six-point run, which gave them a 20-14 lead. The lead was too much for the Raiders to make a comeback and SUNY New Paltz walked away with the four-set win on senior day.
 
"I started off serving and I served four points and when I came off the court Radu told me, 'if you serve four more you are done,' and he says that at the end of practice whenever we do something good so I had to go in and give him at least four, one last time," said Escobar.
 
Cohen led the offensive charge with 18 kills on .303 hitting percentage, while Cole also turned in a double-digit kill performance with 15 of his own. O'Malley finished the day out of the middle with no errors, seven kills, and a .438 percentage. Kennedy distributed the ball throughout the offense tallying 39 assists.
 
Bonilla, normally an outside hitter, moved to libero for senior day and picked up an impressive 10 digs highlighted by a kick save in the second set and a pancake in the third.
 
"It felt good," said Cohen. "We've been waiting for this moment for the past four years and I think the squad coming together, the seven of us pulling out a win, was huge. Especially at home in front of our friends and family, it was a special moment and I'm getting chills just thinking about it."
 
The Hawks have 10 days off before the UVC playoffs begin, where they enter as the three seed and will take on Nazareth College in the opening round on April 13. Be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook for updates, highlights, videos, photos and more.

To see all the photos from Senior day, click here!