New Paltz, N.Y. — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's volleyball team concluded another dominant season this past spring, but the team wasn't able to continue its postseason run as they fell short of securing a UVC title or an NCAA Tournament bid. Despite the shortened playoff run, there was still plenty to be proud of for the Hawks. 
 
SUNY New Paltz's season opened with the Hawks playing six matches in the span of four days, across two states. The team made their way out to Illinois to face the Illinois Institute of Technology, Dominican University (IL), Benedictine University, and North Central College.
 
The Hawks started their season on the front foot securing two sweeps in their first two matches against Illinois Institute of Technology and a Dominican University team that was ranked 12th in the nation.  
 
The team's first loss of the season came in a close 3-2 match against Benedictine University, but the Hawks were quick to rebound, securing a demanding 3-1 win over No. 6 nationally ranked North Central College.    
SUNY New Paltz continued its time on the road as it headed to Milwaukee to participate in the MSOE Tri-Match. The Hawks played back-to-back games, the first against Augustana College (IL) and the second against hosting Milwaukee School of Engineering with the team coming away with 3-0 and 3-1 wins, respectively.   
 
To kick off the month of February SUNY New Paltz traveled to Massachusetts, facing off against a Springfield College squad that was ranked fourth in the nation. The Pride bested SUNY New Paltz in straight sets to hand the Hawks just their second loss of the season.  
 
Only a few days later, the team had their home opener and hosted their first tri-match of the season. Coming off a loss at Springfield, SUNY New Paltz faced the No. 1 nationally ranked Stevens Ducks and suffered a second consecutive loss, falling to the visitors in the Hawk Center, 3-1.  The Hawks responded a few hours later with a big five-set win over the Wentworth Institute of Technology. Graduate senior Brendan Spulnick was a force to be reckoned with, recording 13 kills, six aces, and three blocks. SUNY New Paltz followed up the win by sweeping Ramapo College, improving its record to 7-3.  
 
The Hawks headed to Pennsylvania to participate in the Misericordia Tri-Match and split its pair of matchups, falling short to Messiah University who ranked sixth in the nation, while coming out on top in their match versus the hosting Cougars, securing a 3-2 win.  
 
Upon arrival back in New York, SUNY New Paltz extended its winning streak to three games after victories over SUNY Poly and Stevenson University. Senior Pat Wing was the star of the match against the Mustangs. Wing had 20 kills, three aces, and a block in a much-needed win.    
"Leading up to Stevenson, we've been on a down slope in our season. We've been kind of on a low, not playing to our full potential," said Wing. "We've been trying to fix that and turning it around in practice by working hard, sticking together and picking each other up. Today we made serves, played together, worked hard and goes to show what we can accomplish when we do that. We're just kind of trying to get out of this rut right now."
 
In their second tri-match of the season, the Hawks hosted Elms College and Arcadia University.  SUNY New Paltz extended its win-streak to four in a sweep over Elms College. Arcadia ended the Hawks run in a tight five set match. 
 
The Hawks quickly responded to the setback with back-to-back sweeps. The first coming against Bard College and second against the No. 9 ranked team in the country, Nazareth College. The win over the Golden Flyers was the first conference victory of the season for SUNY New Paltz.  As they opened up UVC play on the front foot, the Hawks honored their four graduating seniors Kyle Shaffer, Dan LaRosa, Brendan Spulnick, and John Ronan prior to the match.
 
Following Senior Day, SUNY New Paltz faced off Rutgers-Newark in a close match that saw the Hawks fall short, 3-2. A few days later, the Hawks headed to Cambridge, MA to play in the MIT Tri-Match. The team won both games, securing their second conference win of the year over UVC opponent Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3-2 before beating Rivier University as well, winning 3-1.
 
Improving to 15-6 and 2-0 in conference play, SUNY New Paltz hosted Springfield College in their second meeting of the season. In a close match, the Hawks fell short in give sets to the nationally ranked Pride.  
 
The team hosted their third tri-match of the season and came out with two big wins. In a UVC matchup, the Hawks swept Elmira College and followed up with a 3-2 win over Kean University.    
To round out the month of March, the Hawks played their final three UVC regular season matchups. SUNY New Paltz fell short to the No. 2 Vassar College but quickly rebounded, winning its next two games. The Hawks beat St. John Fisher College 3-2 and swept No. 7 New York University.  Freshman Krish Jain had five kills and three blocks in the win over the Violets.  
 
The Hawks swept St. Joseph's College Long Island in their final game of the year. Heading into the UVC Tournament, SUNY New Paltz secured the No. 2 seed after ending the regular season on a three game winning streak as the Hawks earned their 12th consecutive postseason appearance.  
 
The UVC Tournament was hosted by top seeded Vassar College. SUNY New Paltz traveled to Poughkeepsie where it faced off against No. 3 seeded St. John Fisher and although the Hawks came back to tie the match at a set apiece in the second, the Cardinals bested SUNY New Paltz, 3-1 to end its 2023 run. 
 
The Hawks season ended on an impressive 20-9 record within an aggressive schedule. SUNY New Paltz was 5-1 in the UVC and was ranked eighth in the NVA/AVCA national poll prior to the postseason. The Hawks faced off against 13 nationally ranked opponents and had a number of standout players this season.
 
SUNY New Paltz had five players named to the All-UVC teams. Wing was named to the All-UVC First Team. Brendan Spulnick was named to the All-UVC Second Team, while John Ronan, Kyle Shaffer, and Krish Jain all received All-UVC Honorable Mention. Jain earned himself the UVC Co-Rookie of the Year honor as well. Dan LaRosa, Ronan and Shaffer earned UVC All-Academic team honors for their excellence on the court and in the classroom. 
 
 
The awards continued to come in as Wing, Spulnick, Ronan, and Shaffer all received AVCA All-North Region Team recognition. The final honors of the year went to Wing and Spulnick who were both named to the AVCA All-American Second Team.  
 
Wing led the team kills (379), kills per set (3.99), points (439.5), and points per set (4.63), all of which were career-highs for the senior. On the defensive side, Wing tallied 131 digs and 45 blocks. Spulnick became the all-time service aces leader in program history.  He finished his career with 204 total aces, including 63 this year.  Spulnick was second to Wing in kills (269), kills per set (3.02), points (353.5), and points per set (3.97).  He even added 17 assists along with his 131 digs and 34 blocks.  

SUNY New Paltz graduated four players from its 2023 roster with Wing returning for his fifth and final season in hopes of leading his team back to the top of the UVC and NCAA standings. 

2023 Season Recap Highlight (edited by Joseph DiPreta)


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