Chicago, IL — The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up the 2023 season with a 3-0 sweep over Illinois Tech Wednesday propelled by a come-from-behind second-set victory.
 
The No. 7 nationally ranked Hawks rolled to a straight-set victory, 25-18, 28-25, 25-17, over the hosting Scarlet Hawks started with a 6-0 run to open up the match. They never trailed in the set and took their largest lead of the period at 15-5 before the hosts answered with a 6-1 run to get within five at 17-11. A kill by AJ Fitzgerald, who had a standout performance in his first collegiate game in nearly two years, stopped the stretch with Kyle Shaffer going back to the junior outside for two more points, pushing the SUNY New Paltz lead to 21-15.
 
Illinois Tech helped the Hawks to set point with a pair of setting errors and a bad set by Jackson Van Engen before Brendan Spulnick ended the set with an emphatic kill off an assist by Dan LaRosa.
 
SUNY New Paltz trailed early in the second, falling behind for its largest deficit at 17-11.  A block by Pat Wing helped spur a rally with the two teams trading points before the Hawks rattled off four-straight points to get within two at 16-18, as Fitzgerald served through the stretch. The Scarlet Hawks regrouped to take a 20-17 lead, but gave SUNY New Paltz a point back after serving into the net. Wing notched his team to another point, forcing Illinois Tech into a hitting error. Wing and senior middle John Ronan then teamed up for a double-block on the ensuing point to cut the score to 20-21. The two teams traded points before a Spulnick ace tied the set for the first time, leading to a timeout by the Scarlet Hawks.
Illinois Tech held set point at 23-24, but it served long to tie the score once again. A good serve by Wing led to a free ball sent over by the Scarlett Hawks, but a miscommunication on the play allowed the ball to fall and gave the hosts back set point. SUNY New Paltz continued fighting, as Shaffer forced a free ball after a dump over the net. He then went back to Spulnick on the outside who tallied a kill to tie the set at 25.
 
After the Scarlet Hawks took another lead on a kill by Elijah Johnson, the visiting Hawks knotted the set one last time, as LaRosa fed Shaffer on a nice pass off a serve receive who set Spulnick for another kill. SUNY New Paltz coach Radu Petrus then subbed in freshman Teddy Teraszkiewcz to serve the ball in for the Newtown, NY natives first collegiate action of his career and he played in two crucial points for his team.

Tied at 26, Teraszkiewcz served the ball in leading to a bad set by Grant Couper to get SUNY New Paltz to set point at 27-26. He served in set point with Illinois Tech playing the ball back over, Teraszkiewcz made a nice play to keep the ball alive for the dig, leading to big swing by Spulnick to close out set two for the Hawks.
 
SUNY New Paltz held onto the momentum in the third and jumped out to a 16-9 lead, forcing the Scarlet Hawks into a timeout. Four straight serves into the net pushed the score to 18-11 before Mike Kilinski broke up the stretch for the Hawks. A double-hit extended SUNY New Paltz's advantage, 19-11 with Fitzgerald adding on with his ninth kill of the match. Illinois Tech worked to earn back-to-back points before a service error gave the ball back to SUNY New Paltz, which answered with a hard serve in by Evan Kane who eventually tallied a kill on the point to bring the lead to 22-13. Another serving error handed the Hawks match point and ultimately Shaffer went back to Spulnick to put the game away for his game-leading 10th kill.
 
As a team, the Hawks hit .247 on the night, compared to .013 for the Scarlett Hawks. Spulnick led the way with 10 kills, while hitting .474 on 19 attempts to go along with an ace and four digs. Fitzgerald was also efficient offensively, totaling nine kills on 14 attempts to hit .500, while adding an assist and four digs. Wing registered a game-high three blocks with six kills and an ace. Shaffer facilitated the offense well, ending with 21 assists and adding a kill, an ace and five digs to his stat line.
 
SUNY New Paltz's Midwest trip continues Thursday with a doubleheader at Benedictine University where the Hawks will take on the hosting Eagles at 8 p.m. after facing No. 12 nationally ranked Dominican University at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

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