Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 New Paltz — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team (11-4 overall, 3-0 UVC) defeated Elmira College 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-16) and Augustana College 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-16) on the first day of the SUNY New Paltz Tri-Match tournament Saturday in Elting Gym.
 
In their first matchup, the Hawks put on a dominating performance, shutting out Elmira College to add another United Volleyball Conference (UVC) win to their tally. Senior outside hitter Bradley Schneider, who had a game-high 10 kills, capped off a four point run for SUNY New Paltz in the first set to put the Hawks up 17-13 after having been down 13-12. A kill by junior Aaron Carrk concluded the set at 25-19. 
 
In the second, Carrk smashed two consecutive service aces to give the Hawks an 18-13 lead, as they closed out the set thanks to an error by Elmira player Landon Miller.
 
The final set started well for SUNY New Paltz as it immediately went up 3-0. Junior setter Matthew Grace had one of his 31 assists to put the score at 12-8. Grace then set up another kill for Carrk to put the Hawks up 19-15, as they strolled to a win, scoring five straight points to close the set 25-16.
 
"We learned some things from the past matches and tried not to make the same mistakes," said SUNY New Paltz coach Radu Petrus. "We had a good strategy to deal with the mistakes we made with Springfield."
 
The Hawks started a little slow, but picked up steam against Augustana College. Led by junior middle blocker Nick O'Malley offensively with seven kills in the first set, SUNY New Paltz's defense helped keep the Vikings at bay.
 
In the second, Augustana stayed close, tying the game at 16. An ace by freshman outside hitter Brendan Spulnick put the Hawks up, 19-16, and O'Malley made sure to close out the set with a block and a spike for the last two points, as SUNY New Paltz won 25-22.
 
The Hawks were at ease in the final set, as O'Malley finished with 15 kills. Carrk had an impressive game as well, contributing 13 strikes of his own in the win.
 
"It feels really good to finally play some solid ball and actually get our stuff done in a timely fashion, the way we wanted to, and not on anyone else's terms," said Carrk.

The Hawks play again Sunday at 12 p.m. against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks,Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.