Union, NJ — The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up the season with two impressive wins over a pair of nationally ranked competition, defeating No. 14 Stevenson University, 3-1 and No. 6 Benedictine, 3-2 at the Clash at Kean Invitational Saturday.
 
The No.1 nationally ranked Hawks began the day against the Mustangs and grinded out a 26-25 first set victory. They cruised to a 25-15 win in the second set to inch closer to their first victory of the year. Stevenson pushed the game to a fourth set after claiming the third stanza, 24-26 and narrowly forced the match into a fifth set.
 
The fourth was tied five times, including at 10-all. Aaron Carrk, Riley Dolan and Tevin Skeete helped bring SUNY New Paltz an 18-14 lead. A service error, compiled with a pair of attacking errors, a kill by Brendan Spulnick and a block by Carrk and Nick O'Malley put the Hawks ahead, 23-19 and in position to close out the set. Stevenson scored back-to-back points, but a service error brought SUNY New Paltz to match point at 24-21.
 
The Hawks allowed the Mustangs to come back in and tie the score once more at 24 and then 25. Stevenson gave SUNY New Paltz match point once more after an attacking error. Chris Shanley then came off the bench to cement the 3-1 win for the Hawks, slamming down a kill for the 27-25 victory.
Carrk led the way with 17 points, hitting .294, while adding two blocks, five digs and a team-best 20 points. Spulnick followed with 15 kills, hitting .379 with three digs and 16 points, while Grace added 39 assists, two blocks and seven digs.
 
SUNY New Paltz showed its resiliency in game two, playing against a tough Benedictine team. The Hawks dropped the first set, 22-25, but came back to tie the match at a set apiece after winning the second stanza by the same score, 25-22. The Eagles took control of the game in the third after going back-and-forth with the score tied nine times, including at 23-all after a kill by Skeete, which was assisted by Matthew Grace. Benedictine answered with back-to-back kills by Joe Lock and Nick Malak to force the Hawks in a must-win fourth set.
 
The fourth was all SUNY New Paltz, however, as it led by as many as nine in the set. Kills by Riley Dolan paired with an attacking error by the Eagles, gave the Hawks a 20-11 advantage. Benedictine climbed back to cut the deficit to 22-16, but kills by John Ronan helped propel a 25-17 win.
 
The fifth frame was another back-and-forth affair. The set was tied at three before SUNY New Paltz answered with a 6-1 run. Carrk started the stretch with a kill and was followed by two more kills from Nick O'Malley and Riley Dolan. Benedictine closed the gap at 11-8, and later at 13-10, but O'Malley and Spulnick put an end to the match with back-to-back points to cement the five-set victory.
 
Carrk led the team with 14 kills to go along with a team-best 11 digs, one block and one assist. O'Malley followed with 13 kills, hitting .706, while adding a team-high six blocks and five digs. Carrk and O'Malley led the team with 15.5 and 19 points, respectively, while Grace added 49 assists, three blocks and three digs.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action next weekend when it enters the Juniata Invitational Jan. 24 and 25.

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