Naperville, IL — The State University of New York at New Paltz earned its second top-15 win in as many days Friday, taking down No. 6 North Central College in four sets (25-22, 27-25, 21-25, 25-15) to improve to 3-1 on the year.
 
The No. 7 Hawks looked to bounce back after getting upset by unranked Benedictine after rolling to a straight-set victory over No. 12 Dominican in a doubleheader Thursday. SUNY New Paltz had just one match on the docket Friday night, taking on the hosting Cardinals who opened up their 2023 campaign on the evening.
 
SUNY New Paltz held a 19-15 advantage in the first set before a 3-0 run by North Central cut the lead to one, but the Hawks answered with back-to-back kills by Pat Wing and Brendan Spulnick. The team's traded points with SUNY New Paltz staying ahead and earning set point at 24-21 following a kill by John Ronan. AJ Fitzgerald then closed the 1-0 match lead for SUNY New Paltz tallying a kill off an assist by Kyle Shaffer.
 
The second set proved pivotal in the match, as the Cardinals held set point at 24-22. A service error kept the Hawks alive in the stanza and they took advantage, answering with an ace by freshman Krish Jain to tie the set at 24. Jain served hard once again, forcing North Central into a hitting error, but the hosts earned back a point with a kill to tie the period once more. Shaffer set Wing for a kill to give SUNY New Paltz set point and the fifth-year senior then served the final point of the set with the Cardinals handing the Hawks the 2-0 lead on an attacking error.  
North Central won the third, but the Hawks came out hot in the fourth going up 17-10 with a 5-0 run served through by Shaffer. SUNY New Paltz extended its cushion to 10 following a kill by Wing, an attacking error by the Cardinals and an ace by Wing to push the score to 23-13. Fitzgerald gave his team match point two serves later with Spulnick putting an end to the game with a kill to earn the 25-15 victory.
 
The Hawks hit .322 in the match on 58 kills. Wing led the way with 19 kills on 41 attempts (.293), while adding an assist, an ace, three blocks and seven digs. Spulnick followed with 15 kills, hitting .286. Fitzgerald totaled 10 kills on 16 attempts for a .625 hitting percentage. Shaffer totaled a game-high 49 assists with three kills a block and five digs.
 
SUNY New Paltz ends its Midwest tour Saturday with a doubleheader at Milwaukee School of Engineering, taking on Augustana College at 4 p.m. EST before facing the hosting Raiders at 7 p.m. EST.

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