Poughkeepsie, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz traveled across the Hudson Saturday for a non-conference tri-match at Vassar College with the Hawks coming away with back-to-back 3-0 sweeps over the hosting Brewers and William Patterson.
 
SUNY New Paltz defeated Vassar in three, 25-12, 25-20, 25-11 before earning a three-set victory over the Pioneers: 25-20, 25-18, 25-19.
 
The Hawks opened up the day against Vassar and they got off to a hot start in the opening period, jumping out to an 11-4 lead, causing the Brewers to call their first timeout. SUNY New Paltz rolled the rest of the way, winning the first set, 25-12.
 
The second set was closer, going back and forth until Vassar got out to a 16-13 lead. The Hawks went on to score the next four points and took a 17-16 advantage before the Brewers were forced to call a timeout. Following the timeout, the Hawks went on to out-score Vassar 8-3, taking the second set 25-20.
  They continued their momentum into the third and final set jumping out to a commanding 20-7 lead, before the Brewers called another timeout. SUNY New Paltz went on to complete the sweep, winning the final set 25-11. Letisha Perez and Katie Steele led the way with eight kills each. Cate DiGiacomo had 22 assists in the match and Mia Waddell, Melanie Podstupka and Makenzie Bills each had three service aces.
 
In the second match of the day, the Hawks got off to another good start against William Patterson and held on to the lead to take the first set 1-0. The second set was back and forth seeing the lead change multiple times, but eventually SUNY New Paltz scored six straight after a 16-16 tie and held on to give them a second set victory, 25-18.
 
Carrying their momentum, the Hawks took their third set of the game, and sixth straight on the day after they finished 25-19. Makenzie Williams led the way with 11 kills while DiGiacomo finished with a whopping 30 assists.
 
SUNY New Paltz completed its two sweeps to conclude its regular season, as it shifts focus to the postseason when it faces Buffalo State at home on Tuesday for a first-round matchup of the SUNYAC Tournament.

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