Santa Cruz, CA — The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up its 2022 season in Santa Cruz, California for the annual Slug Slam Tournament Friday and split its day one double header against Westcliff and Stevenson University.
 
The Hawks defeated the Warriors, 3-1 and fell in straight sets to the Mustangs later on in the night.
 
Westcliff, out of Irvine, CA, kept the first set tight including taking a 15-13 lead midway through the stanza, but SUNY New Paltz responded with five-straight points to regain control and ultimately hold on to win the first. A serving error gave the ball back to the Hawks with Chris Shanley serving through four straight points in the stretch. Tim Drake earned two kills, while the other two points came on Warrior errors. 
Westcliff tied the score at 20, 21, 22 and 23, but a kill by Pat Wing brought the Hawks to set point with Cam Clark finishing the set with a huge block to give his team a 1-0 advantage.
 
After struggling in the second with the Warriors tying up the match following a 25-15 victory, SUNY New Paltz closed out with 25-21 and 25-22 wins in the final two periods to earn the victory. The Hawks got out early in the third and held a 7-2 lead after three-straight attacking errors by the Warriors. The Hawks never let go of the advantage and held set point at 24-20, before Wing closed out with a kill two points later.
 
Although Westcliff jumped out to the early lead in the fourth, the Hawks climbed back from five points down to tie the score at 15, 16 and 18 before taking their first lead at 19-18 on a kill by freshman Evan Kane. The set was tied three more times, before a three-point run ended the match, as Wing registered another kill with Kane serving the last two points on attacking errors by the Warriors to give SUNY New Paltz the season opening victory.
 
The Hawks couldn't duplicate the performance against Stevenson. They held the advantage in kills (37-33), assists (37-30) and digs (31-25), but hit less than .200 against the Mustangs who registered seven blocks in the 3-0 victory.
 
SUNY New Paltz never led in the opening set and worked to get as a close as two down the stretch thanks to three consecutive points on a kill by Kane and back-to-back hitting errors from the Mustangs to cut the deficit, 22-20. But Stevenson scored the next two to get to set point and closed out on a serving error by the Hawks a point later at 25-21.

The second was tighter to start, but a 7-1 run by Stevenson when the score was tied at 13 helped edge the set. SUNY New Paltz struggled to get going in the stretch, as they recorded back-to-back hitting errors and allowed the Mustangs three aces to help the opposition take a 19-14 lead. The Hawks closed the gap to 23-20, but the Mustangs finished the set on two straight points to win, 25-20.
 
Midway through the third, SUNY New Paltz held the momentum in extending the game to a fourth set as it held a 19-12 cushion and then put itself just two points away from the win at 23-17. However, the Mustangs countered with seven straight points to get to match point. The Hawks tied the score at 24, but Stevenson ended the game with a kill and an attacking error by the Hawks to complete the sweep.
 
Wing led the team offensively in the two matches, compiling 22 kills and hitting .571 with four aces. Clark led the team with 44 assists and tied for a team-leading two blocks. Brendan Spulnick registered a team-high 12 kills and two aces against the Mustangs, while Wing totaled a team-high 13 kills and three aces against the Warriors.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Saturday to conclude the Slug Slam Tournament, taking on hosting UC-Santa Cruz and California Lutheran at 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., respectively, eastern standard time.

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