Springfield MA — The State University of New York at New Paltz upset No. 4 nationally ranked Springfield College Wednesday in Blake Arena, getting out to a 2-0 lead before taking the match in five, 25-21, 25-19, 17-25, 14-25, 15-10).
 
The win marked the first over the perennial power since the Hawks earned a four-set win in the 2019 NCAA semifinal, and the victory is the first regular season win over the Pride since 2016.
 
SUNY New Paltz got out to a 1-0 lead Wednesday. Pat Wing led the way for the Hawks, as he also got the game going with a kill off an assist from Matt Marusza. His second ace of the game made the Pride take a timeout with SUNY New Paltz up 16-13. A service error gave the Hawks a 20-15 lead, which was their largest of the set. At set point up 24-21, a kill from Mike Handell, assisted by Maruza gave SUNY New Paltz a 25-21 first set win.
 
In the second set, Wing already had nine kills which was one more than he had in total in the first meeting back on Feb. 14. In what was mostly a one point or tied game for both sides, Springfield took a timeout, which benefited the Hawks as they led 23-17, which was the largest lead for any side at the time. An ace from Christopher Larkin led to match point at 24-18. The Pride cut the lead to five when Krish Jain made a service error, but a service error on Springfield's part sealed the deal as SUNY New Paltz won 25-19 and took a 2-0 lead. In the third set, the Hawks found themselves down 8-4 when coach Radu Petrus called a timeout. An attack error gave SUNY New Paltz a point back, but the Pride continued to give the Hawks a run for its money as they were up 11-6 before SUNY New Paltz called a timeout. To try and slow down Springfield, the Hawks turned to their bench in freshmen Michael Spiegel, Geoff Ndoria, Graham Labeck, and Patrick Soulias. Spiegel tallied two kills, while Ndoria recorded his 29th kill of the season, which cut the Pride lead to eight. Soulias committed a service error which put the set at match point, 24-17 and Springfield then cut the match in half as it won, 25-17.
 
Similarly to the third set, the Hawks were down 8-5 when Petrus called a timeout.  A disputed call put the Pride up 17-11 as opposed to a 16-12. At set point, a kill by the Pride gave them a 25-14 win as they tied the match at two and headed for a fifth set.
 
Coming into the fifth set SUNY New Paltz was 3-0 while the Pride were 4-0. The Hawks were up 6-5 when Wing tallied a kill off an assist from Marusza to put them up by two directly leading to a Springfield timeout. An attack error by the Pride put the Hawks at match point with SUNY New Paltz earning the victory off a service error a point later to clinch a 15-10 set win.
 
Wing tallied 19 kills and four digs. Jain had six kills and two digs, while AJ Fitzgerald registered seven kills and four digs to round out the Hawks' offensive leaders.

SUNY New Paltz continues its road trip Saturday, taking on No. 14 Hobart College in Geneva, NY at 12 p.m. for its second UVC matchup of the season.


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