Patchogue, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz closed out the regular season with a sweep of St. Joseph's-Long Island Saturday, while also seeing history re-set as senior outside Brendan Spulnick became the team's new all-time aces leader.
 
Spulnick was tied with 2017 alum Steve Woessner heading into the match Saturday with 199 and totaled two service aces in the win over the Golden Eagles to place him at 201 all-time to become the new program record holder. His two aces were eight on the night for the Hawks who dominated throughout the night over hosting St. Joseph's-Long Island.
 
SUNY New Paltz hit .300 in the match, while the Golden Eagles were hitting at just a .181 clip with the Hawks totaling more points (48-42), kills (35-32), aces (8-4), assists (34-32) and digs (31-27).
 
Spulnick highlighted the night with a team-high 12 kills on 19 attempts, hitting an efficient .474 with an assist, two aces, a block and seven digs. Pat Wing followed with 11 kills, adding one ace and three digs. Dan LaRosa followed with four kills on seven attempts with one assist, two aces, a block and three digs. Kyle Shaffer was the beneficiary, totaling 31 assists with one ace, two blocks and two digs. Luke Hofer earned the start at libero and finished with a team-high 11 digs.  
SUNY New Paltz trailed at 17-18 late in the first set, but a 5-0 run swung the momentum with Krish Jain serving through the stretch and helping his team to a 21-18 lead. The Hawks held onto the advantage and after an ace by Spulnick were at set point at 24-20. Wing put an end to the first with a kill off an assist from Shaffer to earn the 25-21 win.
 
The Hawks never trailed in the second set and held set point at 24-21 with an attacking error ending the period, 25-21.
 
The Golden Eagles threatened to extend the match to a fourth after taking a 14-8 lead midway through the third that extended to 17-12. SUNY New Paltz slowly worked toward the lead, as a kill by Wing started a 4-0 run to get within one. Shaffer and Jain got up for a double block to earn the next point with LaRosa registering a kill followed by an attacking error to close out the stretch. Wing suffered a service error to hand St. Joseph's-LI an 18-16 lead, but SUNY New Paltz got back on the board with a kill by Shaffer. LaRosa aced on the next point and an attacking error officially gave the Hawks a 19-18 lead. SUNY New Paltz then ended the match with three-straight points to win, 25-21.
 
The Hawks improved their record to 20-8. They have a full week to prepare for postseason play, as they earned the No. 2 seed in the United Volleyball Conference to earn a spot in the semifinals, which is slated for April 15 at top-seed Vassar College.

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