Box Score New Paltz, N.Y.-- The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team (8-2, 2-0) took on Bard College (1-6, 0-3) Wednesday at the Hawk Center.
 
In their second matchup of the United Volleyball Conference (UVC), SUNY New Paltz won comprehensively 3-0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-6) thanks to a hot start, and put on a dominating performance for the eager home fans in New Paltz.
 
The Hawks immediately pushed ahead 13-6 with three kills by senior outside hitter Nick Smith to force the Raptors into a time out. The break didn't seem to shake up the Raptors, as Smith then fired consecutive aces to give the Hawks a 17-7 lead. Smith wasn't done there, as he added two kills, and junior outside hitter Aaron Carrk contributed another three kills as the team took the first set with no trouble. Captain Matthew Grace assisted on 12 of the 25 points.
 
In the second set, the Raptors dug themselves a hole as they went down 6-0. Sophomore middle blocker Sam Yakubowski had his second kill to put the Hawks up 10-3, and junior outside hitter Bradley Schneider added three kills and a service ace to put SUNY New Paltz up 14-5. The Hawks didn't slow down as underclassmen were given a chance to play more minutes. Freshman Brendan Spulnick came on and immediately registered a kill and two aces to put the score at 20-9. The Hawks closed out the set, 25-10 after a kill and two aces by junior outside hitter Riley Dolan.
 
Yakubowski started the last set again with a powerful kill, as Bard struggled to make an impact. Freshman setter Cam Clark put away two aces to put the Hawks up 6-0 in the blink of an eye, and it was downhill from there. Spulnick, set up by Clark, had his second kill of the night to push the Hawks up 18-4. The game wound down as the Hawks held a commanding lead. Spulnick hit  an ace to move the Hawks up 24-6 and set up the final point, which he aced again off net to bring the game to a close.
 
"This was a good bounceback win from Hunter," Smith said. "It's a good team win for the big week ahead of us, and we put on a little show for the fans."
 
Smith finished with a game high 12 kills to go along with four service aces.
 
Hawks coach Radu Petrus was happy with the win, but wants the team to stay healthy going into the weekend.
 
"We didn't have a very good situation after Hunter," said Petrus. "So we tried to rebuild a little this week and run our offense a little faster."

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