Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

New Paltz, NY -- The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team (20-7 overall, 8-1 UVC) won both matches of the SUNY New Paltz Tri-Match against Nazareth College (14-10, 3-5 UVC) and Northern Vermont University-Johnson (1-18) respectively, as it prepares for the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) playoffs beginning on April 12.

The Hawks defeated their UVC rival Nazareth College 3-1 (25-20, 25-27, 25-19, 25-18) before facing off against NVU Johnson, winning 3-0 (25-9, 25-10, 25-13) as SUNY New Paltz coach Radu Petrus rotated a lot of players, sitting out the starters for the Hawks. 

"Nazareth is a good team so it was great to go out strong in UVC game play," said SUNY New Paltz senior outside hitter Bradley Schneider. "Going into conference play we gotta come out tough, we know that we have to win the conference in order to make the NCAA tournament."

Hawks senior outside hitter Nick Smith had a game-high 16 kills and junior Aaron Carrk contributed 12 of his own against Nazareth, as the Hawks offense was too much for the Golden Flyers through four sets.

In the second match, freshmen had a chance to prove their worth as outside hitter Tim Drake had six kills and middle blocker Matt Logel had five.

SUNY New Paltz sits second in the UVC standings although it has the same record as Stevens College, and is already looking ahead to the final of the tournament, hoping to get a rematch of Wednesday's five-set game against the Ducks.

"What I'm looking forward to most is the UVC championship, there's nothing more that I want then revenge on Stevens if they make it there, that would be nice" Schneider said. "We're just gonna have fun in these last games of the season."

The season isn't over yet though, with two regular season games left for SUNY New Paltz, including a tough matchup with Kean University.

"We need to keep working hard in practice and play as a team, all 19 guys have to play a role in the game and just play our volleyball," said Hawks freshman outside hitter Brendan Spulnick.

The Hawks play St. Joseph's College-Long Island next on April 2 at 7 p.m.

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