Newark, NJ —The State University of New York at New Paltz dropped a back-and-forth five-set match on the road against Rutgers-Newark Wednesday.
 
The Hawks (13-6 overall) earned the win in the first, 25-19, but dropped the next two sets, 22-25, 22-25 before forcing a fifth after winning in the fourth, 25-21. The final stanza saw SUNY New Paltz hold match point four times before the Scarlet Raiders scored four of the last five points to earn a 20-18 win.
 
The Hawks held a 22-21 in the third following a kill by AJ Fitzgerald, but Rutgers-Newark scored four-straight points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
After trailing 11-7 in the fourth, a 5-0 run pushed SUNY New Paltz out in front following three-straight attacking errors with Luke Hofer serving through the stretch. The Scarlet Raiders tied the set at 17, but the Hawks answered with two-straight points capped by a kill from middle blocker Krish Jain. The score was tied again at 19, but a hard swing by Pat Wing instigated a 3-0 run, again Hofer serving through the spurt. Rutgers-Newark earned back a point, but Kyle Shaffer eventually pushed SUNY New Paltz to set point as he served for ace with the Scarlet Raiders ending the period a point later, serving long to end the set at 25-21.
 
The fifth saw the score tied eight times with Rutgers-Newark trailing until the final points of the period. The Hawks held a 13-10 lead after Shaffer fed Wing on the right side for a kill, but the hosts stormed back to tie with SUNY New Paltz coach Radu Petrus calling back-to-back timeouts to try and stymy the momentum. Wing gave the Hawks back the lead, but immediately got the match back at 14-all after serving long on the ensuing point.  
Shaffer went to AJ Fitzgerald on the following play and the outside beat the double block to get his team back to match point. Fitzgerald served the ball in, but the Scarlet Raiders made quick work of the point, passing, setting and swinging for kill to tie the match at 15. Wing answered with another kill, but Rutgers-Newark passed well on the ensuing serve receive, leading to a set and spike by Andrew Zaleck, tying the match at 17. Shaffer set Wing who came through with a kill, but the Scarlet Raiders answered with two-straight points to get to match point for the first time at 18-17 thanks to another kill by Zalek. John Ronan found the empty spot on the court to register a kill on the ensuing play, but Carter Lotz served just outside, which pushed Rutgers-Newark ahead, 19-18.
 
The Scarlet Knights went back to Zalek on the final point and the senior right side came through, slamming down his 39th kill of the match to close out the win for his team.
 
Wing finished with a career-high 22 kills, while hitting .298 with an ace, a block and 10 digs. Ronan followed with 12 kills, hitting .632 and tying a career-high with five blocks. Fitzgerald followed with nine kills and 10 digs. Shaffer facilitated the offense and totaled 45 assists with one ace and four digs.
 
Zalek finished with 39 kills on 66 attempts, hitting .409. His performance nearly set a DIII record as he was four shy of the all-time record while finishing fourth most ever in Division III history.

SUNY New Paltz is back on the floor Saturday, playing MIT in a UVC matchup, along with RIvier at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively.

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