Elmira, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz came home with two sweeps over Elmira College Thursday, defeating the Eagles (25-18, 25-18, 25-18) and (25-15, 25-19, 25-22), respectively.

The Hawks (3-3 overall, 3-2 UVC) were finally back on the court Thursday after their previously scheduled doubleheader against Vassar was postponed on Wednesday. They traveled four-plus hours Thursday to face fellow UVC counterpart Elmira and made quick work of the Eagles (0-15, 0-8), with a pair of 3-0 sweeps – the first of which for the defending national champions.

"We have great student-athletes, very dedicated to play volleyball," said SUNY New Paltz coach Radu Petrus. "We'll play again at Elmira this coming Saturday against Naz. The team needs all of the players to boost confidence level on Saturday."

SUNY New Paltz earned contributions for a myriad of players after virtually having their full roster active Thursday. Aaron Carrk, Brendan Spulnick and Pat Wing led the team offensively with Carrk finishing with a game-high 10 kills, while hitting .389 in the game. Spulnick followed with nine kills, putting down nine of 15 attempts to hit .400 in game one, while adding four aces, four digs and a block. Wing had arguably his best game in his young collegiate career, finishing with five kills, one assist, one ace, two blocks and two digs. 
The first set of game one was tight within the first few points, but a four-point run starting at 7-7 with a kill by Aaron Carrk allowed the Hawks to get ahead and never look back. The Eagles cut the score to 23-18, but SUNY New Paltz finished the set after a service error and then an ace by Spulnick to seal the 25-18 victory. The Hawks never trailed in set two after getting out to a 3-0 start. Elmira worked back to get within four at 21-17, but a block by Spulnick and Nick O'Malley staggered the comeback, combined with three errors on the next four points by the Eagles that gave the visitors a 2-0 match one lead.

In the third set, SUNY New Paltz led by as many as seven late in the set at 22-15, but Elmira threatened the lead with three-straight points to bring the score to 22-18. Spulnick made sure the Hawks closed out the win, however, as the junior spiked a kill at 23-18 and then hit an ace to get the game to match point where Elmira ended the game with an attacking error to seal the 25-18 outcome.

Kyle Shaffer was the x-factor during game two for SUNY New Paltz. The junior set career-best marks against Elmira Thursday as he finished with two kills, a team-most 24 assists, two aces and one dig. Offensively, Carrk and Spulnick paced the Hawks with 11 kills apiece, with Spulnick hitting an exceptional .769 in the game. Chris Shanley, playing in his first two games of the season against Elmira, tallied five kills on 10 attempts and added two assists and four digs.

SUNY New Paltz rolled in set one of game two, 25-15 and closed out a tight set two that saw the score knotted seven times before the Hawks took a slight two-point lead at 13-11 and carried the advantage the rest of the way to close out a 25-19 win. Sam Yakubowski who slammed a kill at 24-19, coupled with a block by Yakubowski and Matt Logel helped close out set two.

The Hawks overcame a 6-0 deficit in the third and worked their way to their first lead at 14-13 following an ace by Shaffer. The two teams traded points before SUNY New Paltz took a 20-17 lead and the Eagles got within one at 20-19 and 22-21, but the Hawks weren't looking to stay in Elmira too much longer. Shaffer found O'Malley for a kill and then recorded an ace to get his team to match point. The Eagles got within two, but an attacking error ended the match in favor of SUNY New Paltz, 25-22.

"This evening's match versus Elmira was a tough challenge," Petrus said. "Pat, Chris, Cam [Clark] and Kyle, they did a good job."

The Hawks are back in action Saturday, as they travel back to Elmira, NY to face Nazareth College for two UVC games starting at 3 p.m.

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