Dallas, PA — The State University of New York at New Paltz split its two matches Saturday at the Misericordia Tri-Match, playing in back-to-back five-set games.
 
The Hawks (7-4 overall) opened up the afternoon against No. 6 Messiah and lost (20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 12-15), before earning a five-set victory (26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12) over the hosting Cougars to close out their Saturday slate.
 
After the Falcons won the first set, SUNY New Paltz took a 2-1 lead with back-to-back 25-23 victories. The fourth was pivotal, as Messiah got out to a 19-13 lead following a 6-0 run and was up 21-15 before a 3-0 stretch by SUNY New Paltz worked the deficit to four. A kill ended the scoreless stretch for the Falcons, but back-to-back points by the Hawks, which included a kill by Kyle Shaffer on a free ball got them within two.
 
Each team traded serves with SUNY New Paltz helping the Falcons to set point with a service error before winning on a kill by Mason Nissley that extended the match into a fifth.
 
The fifth stanza went back and forth throughout. SUNY New Paltz took a 9-7 lead after a kill by AJ Fitzgerald and a block by Krish Jain and Brendan Spulnick, but Messiah tied the score at nine on two points off kills from Nissley and Alex Kagoro. Kyle Shaffer and John Ronan gave the Hawks back the lead on a kill and a solo block, respectively, before the two teams traded points. A serving error then ignited a 5-0 run to end the match for the Falcons spurred on by attacking mistakes by SUNY New Paltz that resulted in a 15-12 defeat.
 
Pat Wing finished with a team-high 16 kills. Spulnick totaled 15 kills off 27 attempts, hitting .407 with two aces, a block and six digs. Shaffer tallied a team-high 41 assists and eight digs.  
SUNY New Paltz regrouped to defeat Misercordia in the late matchup. The Cougars narrowly took the first set, as they held set point at 24-23, but the Hawks ended the set on three-straight points thanks to a kill by Fitzgerald and ace from Wing with an attacking error by Misercordia officially giving SUNY New Paltz a 1-0 lead.
 
The Cougars tied the match in the second before the Hawks took a 2-1 advantage after winning the third, 25-23. Spulnick helped SUNY New Paltz to set point on a kill and officially gave his team the lead after spiking another two points later.
 
With the Cougars winning the third by five points, the Hawks looked at playing another fifth and deciding set. They led throughout the period and held a three-point advantage at 8-5 and 9-6 before Misericordia came back to get within one at 9-8, 10-9 and 11-10. Ronan smashed a ball from Shaffer to create a cushion with the Cougars handing SUNY New Paltz another point on an attacking error. Another attacking error a point later put the Hawks at match point and Fitzgerald put the finishing touches on the win with a big swing for a game-winning kill.
 
Wing once again totaled a team-high 16 kills, while adding an ace and a block with six digs. Spulnick totaled 15, matching his previous game total as well, and registered an assist, two aces and six digs. Ronan had eight kills and hit .462 in the match. Shaffer quarterbacked the offense and finished with 45 assists with an ace and six digs, while libero Dan LaRosa totaled a team-high 13 digs and two assists.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Wednesday when they head to Utica, NY to play SUNY Poly at 7 p.m.

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