BROOKLYN, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team continued its winning ways Wednesday night in Brooklyn, NY, as the No. 11 ranked Hawks defeated New York University, 3-2 in a full five sets from the Brooklyn Athletic Facility. 
 
In what was SUNY New Paltz's fourth United Volleyball Conference match of the season, the Hawks regrouped after having difficulty in sets two and four to pull off the win to improve their overall record to 16-4. After splitting the first four sets 25-20, 16-25, 25-21, and 11-25, SUNY New Paltz composed itself for the crucial win. With the loss, the Violets dropped to 8-9 on the season. 
 
Meanwhile, the Hawks lost only one game since Feb. 2, with the defeat coming against then No. 2 ranked Springfield College by a score of 3-1 March 10. With a national ranking coming into Wednesday, senior outside hitter Chris Shanley set the tone early on and was the team's major catalyst for the entirety of the match. 
 
Shanley had four of the Hawks' first 10 points in set number one, getting kills to put his team up 2-1, 3-2, 9-8, and 10-9 in a set that for the majority of its duration went back and forth. With a 10-9 lead, Brendan Spulnick registered a kill to make the score 11-9. The Violets in response, though, tallied three of the next four points to tie the opening set at 12 with James Haag and Gautham Dasari getting kills. SUNY New Paltz quickly regrouped, however, and went up 19-14, to that point its biggest lead of the game, after a Pat Wing kill and an ace. After a Wing error, John Ronan scored a kill to get the lead back to five at 20-15. After NYU scored three of the next five points to cut the deficit to three after a Tim Kane hit out of bounds, Spulnick made the score 23-19 with a kill of his own and Wing ended the set with his second kill of the set, giving his team the 25-20 win.  
 
Set number two was less competitive than the first, with the Violets gaining an advantage. After the two sides got out to a similar start like they did in set one, with NYU clinging to a 12-10 lead after a Lucas Osiecki kill, the home team began to distance themselves. Haag registered at that point in the game his fourth kill to give the Violets a 16-12 advantage, leading Hawk head coach Radu Petrus to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, NYU"s Calvin Tan and SUNY New Paltz's Spulnick alternated out of bounds hits and Owen Wahlgren scored a kill to put his team up five, 18-13. After an error by the Violet's Zach Knudsen, NYU reeled off six consecutive points to make the score 24-14, a run that included two self-inflicted wounds by the Hawks as Ronan and Adam Brawn hit out of bounds. Despite two mistakes by Haag making the score 24-16, SUNY New Paltz's Christopher Larkin returned the favor, giving the home team the nine-point win in set two. 
The third set played out much like the first one did, with both teams basically alternating points. Despite the Hawks getting out to a 6-2 lead after back-to-back aces by Wing, the Violets battled back on the strength of two kills from Tyler Flood, an ace from Ryan Whealen, and then a kill from Osiecki that tied the set at eight. The set again was tied at 15 after a Wahlgren hit out of bounds, which occurred just before SUNY New Paltz received an ace and a kill from Shanley to give them an 18-16 edge. After a Haag kill made the score 19-18, Tim Drake returned the favor right back with a kill of his own to give the Hawks a 20-18 lead. Haag registered a kill to get his team to within one at 21-20, but then served long. Wing set Kyle Shaffer up for a kill that put SUNY New Paltz up 23-20, and Shanley put the set away with his 15th kill of the game to give his team the 25-21 set win. 
 
Set number four was a forgettable one for the Hawks, as the Violets were dominant throughout, racing out to an 9-3 start on the strength of two Haag aces and two kills from Osiecki. Shanley came back with a kill, which gave him 17 on the night and a new season-high, cutting the lead to 9-4. Two Osiecki aces were included in the next quick 5-0 scoring run for the NYU though, which led to a timeout by Petrus with his team down 13-4. After an Osiecki error made the score 13-5, the Violets went on another run, outscoring SUNY New Paltz 9-4 to take a 22-9 advantage. After an Adam Brawn kill, the home team's Ry Kagan made his presence felt with two kills, the last of which gave the Violets a 25-11 victory, setting the stage for an exciting final set that would decide the match. 
 
The Hawks, wanting to stay within the national ranks, and NYU, wanting to pull off the upset, played a great final set with neither team giving much. After Haag hit out of bounds, Spulnick aced, putting SUNY New Paltz up 2-0. After Spulnick hit long, an Osiecki kill tied the game at two. Both sides alternated the next four points, with Pat Wing and the Violet's Jack Candido registering kills that were followed by a Osiecki error and Haag kill. 
 
With the score tied at four, Candido secured another kill, while Shanley hit the ball out of bounds, giving NYU a 6-4 lead. A Ronan kill that landed down the middle cut the lead to 6-5, but a Wahlgren spike, also down the middle, pushed the Violet lead to two, at 7-5. Spulnick hit over Whealen for his eighth kill to make the score 7-6, and then Haag allowed the Hawks to tie the set at seven when his shot went off the net and out of bounds. After Bryan Kaplan failed to dig out a Wahlgren hit, Shanley spiked the ball on the next possession down the middle, tying the game at eight. Violations from NYU gave SUNY New Paltz an 11-8 lead, which turned out to be their eventual margin of victory in the game as Shanley and Drake scored two big kills, the latter of which bounced off Whealen and landed out of bounds, securing the 15-12 game win and match win 3-2. 
 
"Tonight, we had a few easy mistakes," said Petrus, as his team finished with 20 service errors and 28 attack errors to their opposition's 17 and 11 in the same categories. 
 
Overall, the Hawks tallied 54 kills to the Violets' 47, despite NYU ending up with a higher hitting percentage of .429 to SUNY New Paltz's .248. Shanley had a team and career-high 20 kills on 33 total attacks, while Kyle Shaffer had 44 assists. For the Violets, Haag and Osiecki finished with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, while Whealen tallied 41 assists. 
 
The victory for the Hawks was not only major in allowing them to maintain their firm stance in the national mix and improve their record to 16-4, but also kept them in prime position atop the conference with a big match looming against No. 8 Vassar College Saturday.
 
"Overall, it was a good victory," Petrus said. "We have a matchup next against Vassar which is important for both teams as the winner will host the UVC playoff." 
 
The matchup with the Brewers will take place Saturday at 6 p.m. from Kenyon Hall in Poughkeepsie, NY. 

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