Union, NJ — The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up the Clash at Kean Tournament with a pair of wins over the hosting Cougars and Randolph-Macon College Friday.
 
The Hawks improved to 4-3 overall after beating Kean in five sets (19-25, 26-24, 26-24, 23-25, 15-11), and sweeping the Yellow Jackets (25-19, 25-16, 26-24).
 
SUNY New Paltz grinded a hard-fought five-set victory over Kean to open up its four-game tournament slate. After dropping the first set, the Hawks tied the second at 23 and 24-all in a back and fourth second stanza.
 
Pat Wing swung for a kill off an assist by Matt Marusza to knot the game at 24. Matt Kudlinski came into serve the next point and helped get the Hawks to set point after an attacking error by the Cougars. Christopher Larkin then officially tied the game at a set apiece after registering a kill following another good serve by Kudlinski.
 
The third set was pivotal, as SUNY New Paltz once again triumphed in extra points. An attacking error by Kean tied the score at 23 with Mike Handell getting the Hawks to set point after rising up for a solo block on the Cougars' Ryan DiCandilo. A service error tied the game back up, but Luke Hofer registered a kill to put SUNY New Paltz back at set point with Wing solidifying the 26-24 win with a kill as Kudulski served the set winning point.
 
Kean forced a deciding fifth set after scoring the last two points of the fourth to win, 25-23. SUNY New Paltz took a 5-0 lead to start the final period with Marusza serving through the run as he capped the stretch with an ace. An attacking error by Wing allowed the Cougars to counter with a 4-0 run to get within one, but Wing won back serve for his team with a hard swing for kill to extend the advantage, 6-4.
Kean took the lead at 8-7 following an ace before the two teams exchanged leads until Michael Speigel tied the game and allowed Larkin to serve for the Hawks resulting in two straight points, which allowed the Hawks to get back in front. They never trailed from there and even though the Cougars got within one at 11-10, Speigel and AJ Fitzgerald answered with back-to-back kills before Speigel got SUNY New Paltz to match point on a kill at 14-11. Speigel served on the following point, leading to a game-winning kill by Fitzgerald on an assist by Teddy Teraszkiewicz.
 
Wing finished with a game-high 24 kills, while adding an ace and eight digs. Fitzgerald followed with 17 kills, hitting .333 with a team-high 15 digs with three blocks and an assist. Marusza finished with a team-high 45 assists with two aces and 10 digs.
 
After a tight five-set match, the Hawks rolled to a quick sweep of Randolph Macon. They dominated in nearly every statistical category. They out-hit the Yellow Jackets, (.306-.065), had more points (52-33), kills (43-23), aces (5-4), assists (37-19) and digs (28-16).
 
SUNY New Paltz held set point at 24-19 in the first set thanks to a serving error and Randolph Macon followed with an attacking error to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. Another service error put them at set point once again at 24-14 in the second with Patrick Soulias sealing the 2-0 lead following a kill for the Hawks.
 
The third was back and forth with seven different lead changes. Wing knotted the score at 23 following a kill off a set by Marusza and after the Yellow Jackets got to set point, SUNY New Paltz made sure to close out and answered with three-straight points to end the match. Handell and Fitzgerald tallied back-to-back kills with Wing clinching the victory with an ace.
 
Speigel led his team with a career-high 14 kills, while adding three blocks and four digs. Fitzgerald followed with 12 kills on 20 attempts, while adding an assist, a block and four digs. Larkin had a team-high eight digs with an assist and nine kills. Soulias finished with a team-most 28 assists.
 
SUNY New Paltz concludes the Clash at Kean Tournament Saturday with matches against Stevenson University at 1:30 p.m. and Hunter College at 4 p.m.

**********************
To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.