Cambridge, MA — Coming off a disappointing home loss last weekend, the State University of New York at New Paltz showed its resiliency Saturday on the road at conference rival MIT.
 
The Hawks (15-6 overall, 2-0 UVC) opened up their Saturday tri-match against the hosting Engineers and got down by two sets before storming back to win three-straight to earn the five set victory, 21-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-17, 15-12 before winning in four over Rivier in the matinee game, 20-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-18.
 
Against MIT, SUNY New Paltz were tight in the first set, getting within one at 18-19 following a kill by Pat Wing, but a 3-0 run created some cushion for the Engineers and ultimately held set point at 24-20 with Troy Oliveira sealing the 1-0 match lead on a kill.
 
MIT led at 23-17 following four-straight points with SUNY New Paltz countering with a kill by Dan LaRosa and back-to-back attacking errors from the Engineers with the latter ending on a block by John Ronan and Pat Wing. Oliveria ended the stretch with a kill to get his team to set point and ultimately Nicholas Gustafson gave the hosts a 2-0 advantage with a kill.
 
SUNY New Paltz regrouped in the third and started building a cushion midway through the period. After the Engineers scored on consecutive points a serving error gave the Hawks the ball back with Wing serving for ace on the ensuing point with AJ Fitzgerald doubling down with a kill on an assist by LaRosa to create a 15-10 lead. The teams traded points until Kyle Shaffer went to Wing on back-to-back points, as the senior middle tallied two kills to push the lead to 19-13. The Hawks were in command the rest of the way with the Engineers getting as close as four following a service error by Wing, but MIT gave serve right back after a service error of its own to push to set point. Krish Jain then put the finishing touches on the third set victory to trim the match, 2-1.  
Tied at nine in the fourth, Shaffer served through five-straight points, which included blocks on three consecutive plays helped by Ronan, Wing and LaRosa. SUNY New Paltz never trailed from that point forward and following an attacking error by Gustafson, the Hawks held set point. MIT helped tie the match at two on service error to end the fourth.
 
Wing registered a kill to give his team an 8-7 lead at the switch. The match was tied four more times at nine, 10, 11 and 12-all, before a serving error propelled a 3-0 run for SUNY New Paltz. Jain and Shaffer got up for a big block on Oliveira to set up match point where Wing closed out with a kill off an assist from Luke Hofer.
 
Wing led the way with 19 kills, a service ace, three blocks and five digs. Ronan followed with eight kills and five blocks. Fitzgerald also added eight kills with an ace and a block. Shaffer was the beneficiary, totaling 41 assists.
 
SUNY New Paltz spotted the Raiders a 1-0 lead before rolling through the next three. A service error pushed set two to set point for the Hawks where Jain laid down a kill off a feed from Shaffer to tie the match.
 
SUNY New Paltz took the momentum into the third where it led by six mid-way through at 16-10, and extended to 20-14 before Rivier tied at 20. However, the Hawks countered with five consecutive points to take a 2-1 lead as a serving error by the Raiders helped start the stretch with Wing ended the run on a set point kill.
 
The Hawks opened up the final stanza with five unanswered points and never trailed the rest of the way and eventually led by as many as 11 at 21-10 on a kill by Fitzgerald. The Raiders came back within six, but a serving error set up match point and LaRosa ended the game a point later with a kill.
 
Wing totaled a team-high 12 kills followed by LaRosa with eight on 16 attempts, hitting .313 with 11 assists and a block. Ronan and Fitzgerald each had six kills with the former recording six blocks.
 
SUNY New Paltz returns home Thursday for another big matchup against rival Springfield at 6 p.m. in the Hawk Center.

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