Utica, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz earned its fourth win in its last five matches with a four-set victory over hosting SUNY Poly Wednesday night.
 
The Hawks (9-4 overall) dropped the first set after starting a bevy of its first-year players, but re-inserted their traditional starters and took the next three sets with the second and fourth sets dominated by SUNY New Paltz.
 
After losing the first stanza, 25-21, hitting a game-low .125 in the set while the Wildcats hit a game-best .500, the Hawks rolled in the second. They got out to a 10-0 lead with Kyle Shaffer serving through the stretch, totaling three aces in the run.
 
A kill by Peter Gottler ended the scoreless drought for Poly, but John Ronan brought the lead back to 10 with a kill. Brendan Spulnick followed with an ace and Ronan added on, slamming down another kill. A 5-0 run by the Wildcats brought the game slighter tighter midway through the second at 15-8, but SUNY New Paltz responded with four-straight points helped by a service error and attacking error by Poly. A serving error gave the Hawks set point at 24-12 and Pat Wing officially tied the match at 1-1 registering a kill off an assist by Evan Kane.  
The third set went back-and-forth, as a 3-0 run by the hosts tied the period at 17. The teams traded points, but Wing and Spulnick gave SUNY New Paltz a 21-19 lead following a kill and ace and the Hawks held on from there. After taking a 23-20 lead, Poly answered with consecutive points, but AJ Fitzgerald came in and put his stamp on the match with two straight kills to solidify the 25-22 win for SUNY New Paltz.
 
The fourth was all SUNY New Paltz, as it took a 17-5 lead after a kill by Matt Teplansky off a set from Kyle Shaffer. Teplansky gave the Hawks a 12-point lead on an ace at 23-11 and the Hawks closed out on two of the last three points on a kill by Krish Jain and an ace by Carter Lotz to secure the 3-1 victory.
 
Fitzgerald led the way offensively in just three sets played, finishing with 10 kills off 15 attempts to hit .467 with two assists, an ace and two digs. Ronan followed with nine kills, hitting .636 with an ace and a team-high three blocks. Wing added seven kills and a team-high four aces with two blocks. Shaffer was the beneficiary, totaling a team-high 24 assists in three sets played with three aces and two digs.
 
Shaffer surpassed the 1,000-assist threshold for his Hawks career last weekend and entered top-10 all-time with his performance against the Cougars, registering 1,197 and counting.
 
Shaffer and SUNY New Paltz returns to the Hawk Center this weekend, facing Stevenson Friday at 7 p.m. before taking on Elms College and Arcadia University Saturday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively,

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