ELMIRA, NY – After a difficult 3-0 loss to Springfield College on Wednesday, the State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team rebounded well on Friday night, defeating 16-11 Elmira College in five hard fought sets, 25-21, 17-25, 25-21, 17-25, and 15-8. The Hawks received strong matches from Pat Wing, whose 13 kills were second behind the Soaring Eagles' Jordan Peiser and his 18, and Kyle Shaffer, whose 41 assists were 10 better than Elmira's Oscar Munoz Trinidad. Shaffer also led both sides in service aces with five. 
 
"We used all of our players tonight, and we played very well offensively," said head coach Redu Petrus. "Kyle Shaffer ran a faster offense tonight and it turned into a few aces." 
 
In set number one, the Hawks' John Ronan made his presence felt right away, registering a kill for the first point of the set. Back-to-back aces from Shaffer put the Hawks up 3-0, but immediately responding for the home team was Peiser with a kill of his own. Ronan, not to be outdone, scored two of SUNY New Paltz's next three points to give his team a 5-2 edge. The Hawks took a four point lead, 8-4, after Alberto Mauricio errored, but consecutive errors by Brendan Spulnick and Chris Larkin cut the Soaring Eagles' deficit to two at 8-6. Moments later, two kills from Evan Kane gave SUNY New Paltz a five point advantage, 13-8. After Peiser scored a kill, Ronan countered with one of his own, his fifth of the set. The 14-9 lead for the Hawks was enough of a cushion to take the first set, as put aways from Kane, Larkin and Spulnick gave SUNY New Paltz the 25-21 victory. 
 
Set two, for the most part, belonged to Elmira, who jumped out to a 7-3 lead as Shaffer and Evan Kane committed three errors early. The Hawks got the score within two, 12-10, after an attack error from Joseph Powless, but the Soaring Eagles extended their big advantage to 19-12 in a stretch that included two service aces from Edwin Sosa. Elmira did not let up and took set two 25-17 on a Spulnick error. 
 
The third set went down to the wire, with Wing putting forth a great effort early on. Wing scored five kills in the first minutes of the set, Ronan tallied two of his 11 total kills, and Carter Lotz added one to help SUNY New Paltz take an 11-9 lead. After a bad set from Bryan Kaplan cut the lead to two at 14-12, Trinidad blocked Spulnick, making the score 14-13. Wing though, as he had all match, responded in clutch fashion, scoring a kill and giving his team a two-point edge. Back-to-back aces from Kane, two of his three on the evening, gave the Hawks a four-point lead, but Elmira battled right back, as two Peiser kills trimmed the road team lead all the way down to one, 19-18, forcing head coach Radu Petrus to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Ronan registered a kill and Shaffer aced, giving the road team a 21-18 edge. Peiser committed two errors with his team down 23-21, allowing SUNY New Paltz to take the set by a count of 25-21. 
 
The Soaring Eagles, just like they did in set number two, took the fourth set 25-17 to send the match to a deciding fifth. They raced out to a 10-2 lead and, despite a valiant effort from the Hawks when kills from Tim Drake and Wing made the score 24-17 after falling behind 23-15, an error from Drake gave Elmira the set victory 25-17, sending the match to a deciding fifth. 
 
SUNY New Paltz came out with a strong sense of urgency in the deciding set, taking a 5-2 lead after Spulnick blocked Peiser and registered a kill, and Ronan blocked Powless, leading to a Soaring Eagle timeout. The chance to regroup did not work for the home team, as Ronan tallied another kill to make the score 6-2, and two errors from Mauricio and Powless gave the Hawks an 8-3 advantage, leading to another Elmira timeout. Mauricio answered with a kill, but so did Wing and Spulnick, making the score 10-4. After another Mauricio kill, Shaffer and Wing countered in identical fashion, with Wing getting his 13th and final on the evening to put SUNY New Paltz two points away from victory with a 13-6 lead. Peiser answered with one kill in return, as did Lotz. After a Shaffer error, Lotz scored the final point of the match with his fourth kill, securing the 15-8 set five win and the 3-2 match win in a hard fought, competitive contest. 
 
Mauricio, with four service aces, finished just behind Shaffer's five for the match, and his 13 kills were second on his squad only to Peiser's 18. Peisner also led the Soaring Eagles in total attacks, with 37, while the Hawks were more balanced in that department getting 18 apiece from Wing, Ronan, and Spulnick. 
 
"For tomorrow, we need to block the ball better," Petrus said of what his team needs to improve on. 
 
Such an improvement will be imperative when SUNY New Paltz, who is now 18-5 with Friday night's win, matches up with Nazareth College in their regular season finale on Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m. from Rochester, NY. With an 18-7 record, the Golden Flyers are only two back in the loss column from the Hawks, and are third in the UVC in kills with 992, 21 better than SUNY New Paltz's 971. 

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