New Paltz, NY-- In a United Volleyball Conference (UVC) matchup between the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the nation, the State University of New York at New Paltz (16-3, 4-1 UVC) bested NYU (13-3, 4-2 UVC) in an electrifying game at the Hawk Center on Wednesday night.
 
The Hawks won 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-12) completing a remarkable comeback down 6-1 in the final set.
 
"Being down that much is nothing new to us unfortunately, we've gotten a little too comfortable with it," said SUNY New Paltz senior captain Aaron Carrk with a smile. "Going down 7-2 [in the fifth set] is extremely difficult to come back from, and somehow this team did it."
 
Carrk had an outstanding game with 20 kills, six digs, four aces, a solo block and a block assist. The UVC Player of the Week stepped up his game and was joined by fellow senior middle blocker Nick O'Malley who had 13 kills. Hawks sophomore opposites Chris Shanley and Brendan Spulnick had 10 and seven kills, respectively. On the whole, SUNY New Paltz recorded a .278 hitting percentage and 10 aces in clutch moments.
 
The Hawks won the first point of the game off a kill from O'Malley, and an error by NYU followed by a miraculous block from Spulnick immediately gave the hosts the boost they needed. 
NYU missed their second serve as SUNY New Paltz gained an early 4-1 lead. Shanley tallied a kill to go up 5-2, then added another to increase the Hawks' lead to 7-3 off an assist from senior Matthew Grace. 
 
"Matt [Grace] did a really good job dishing the ball tonight," Carrk added. "My teammates did a really good job getting digs, getting touches on blocks and that was crucial for us especially down the stretch, I owe it all to them."
 
Carrk scored his second kill for the Hawks as they led, 9-5 with the team looking relaxed but focused. Carrk killed again with a beautiful cross court slam to push SUNY New Paltz ahead, 10-6, and a bad set and attacking error by the Violets doubled the Hawks' lead. 
 
SUNY New Paltz stayed on top with another O'Malley kill before NYU strung together two aces to cut the advantage to three, but a vicious spike by Carrk spurred them up 16-12. O'Malley slammed down another kill to bring the set to 19-16, and an ace by Carrk forced the Violets into a time-out at 23-18. Carrk served another impressive ace into the right corner to bring SUNY New Paltz within set point, and senior middle blocker Tevin Skeete won the set with a block, 25-18.
 
In the second set, Skeete kept a ball alive off an attempted kill, and Spulnick slammed the ball down the middle, assisted by Grace to tie the set at 5-5. Grace anticipated the play once more, spiking on the second pass to level the set 7-7. 
 
The Hawks committed some service errors and mistakes as the Violets gained a 15-11 advantage and kept pushing, making head coach Radu Petrus call a timeout down 17-11.
 
"Radu loves to always sit us down, so he can tell us what we're doing wrong, what we need to fix, why we're doing it wrong," Carrk said. "He takes us through every single thing very quickly and then tells us to get out there and do our best."
 
A Violets service error and an ace by Grace cut the set to 21-17, but the Hawks lost the set 25-19.
 
The third was knotted at 5-5 before Skeete gave SUNY New Paltz a 6-5 lead. A kill by NYU leveled the set again at 9-9. The two New York teams kept exchanging points before a four point run by the Hawks moved them up 15-11. Servers exchanged errors as the lead was extended to 19-14. 
 
A Carrk kill increased the margin to 20-15, but service errors hurt the team again, cutting the lead to 21-19. Once more each team served into the net, and Shanley had a bad set, tying the scpre at 22-22. Shanley bounced back, tallying a kill to take a one point lead, but NYU scored two crucial kills to win 25-23.
 
The fourth set was hard fought, as the Hawks served two aces and took a 10-9 lead. Carrk scored assisted by Grace twice in a row to grab a 15-13 advantage. O'Malley spiked a kill to go up 20-18, and Carrk followed up with a kill of his own, as NYU called for time. 
 
O'Malley tipped two kills before Carrk scored again as the Hawks led 22-18. O'Malley could not be stopped and got his 13th kill to win the set 25-18.
 
The final set started poorly for SUNY New Paltz, down 7-2 before Carrk added two points with his 16th kill and a block. The captain served an ace to cut the set to 8-6 for the Violets, and served another to come within one. Shanley came in clutch with an ace of his own to cut the NYU lead to 10-9. 
 
Carrk scored a crazy point off a bad pass, sending the ball across the length of the net again coming within one of the Violets, and a massive block tied the set at 12-12. Another block after an error took the Hawks within match point and Grace aced to send SUNY New Paltz into a frenzy, winning 15-12.
 
The Hawks face Rivier College at the Hawk Center next on March 13 at 6 p.m.

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