Poughkeepsie, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz headed across the Hudson River Wednesday night for a battle of the Hudson Valley against United Volleyball Conference (UVC) foe Vassar College in the Kenyon Hall Volleyball Gym.
 
The Hawks (16-10) looked to win their last road match of the season Wednesday night, but were unsuccessful falling in four sets (17-25, 17-25, 25-20, 20-25).
 
All-American opposite Pat Wing was not in the starting rotation against the Brewers as he was dealing with an injury. Freshman opposite Michael Spiegel was tasked with the job and looked sharp in the first set. Spiegel notched a kill, with an assist from Daniel Shanley, who tallied 39 assists last game, gave the Hawks a 5-3 lead. Krish Jain then tied the score up with a kill from Shanley. No team had a lead more than two, until an attack error by Jain gave Vassar a 13-10 lead. Two kills from the Brewers put them up front by four. Spiegel continued to get points back for SUNY New Paltz, cutting the Vassar lead to three, two times. Both were assisted by Shanley. From there, the Hawks struggled, where they found themselves down at one point by six. Down 24-17 at set point, an attack error by Geoff Ndoria handed the Brewers a 25-17 first set win.
 
The start of the second was all Vassar as it took a 7-0 lead when SUNY New Paltz called a timeout but an attacking error out of the break finally got the Hawks on the board. Down 11-2, back-to-back kills off the bench from Adam Brawn and Matt Teplansky, both assisted by Shanley, cut the difference to seven.
 
Ten was the biggest deficit the Hawks found themselves in, as they were down 22-12 in the second set. They still had some sparks in them though. An ace by Brawn and a kill from Ndoria assisted by Shanley showed they were not going down without a fight, keeping the Vassar lead to eight respectively. At set point for Vassar, SUNY New Paltz hung in with two straight points coming on an attack error, as well as another kill by Ndoria assisted by Shanley, which cut the score to 24-17 for the Brewers. The Hawks lost their grip and could not make a comeback, as they were down 2-0 after losing 25-17 in the second.  
It appeared as though the last set was just a fluke for SUNY New Paltz. Vassar called a timeout after a service ace by the Brewers evened the score at six. After that, the Hawks maintained a lead for the rest of the set, determined to go to a fourth. The biggest lead was six with 11 kills sprinkled in the mix. Two away from set point with the Hawks leading 22-18, coach Radu Petrus called a timeout. After that, Vassar shrunk the lead to three but the Hawks were not about to let the lead slip away. Teplansky made sure of that with another kill at set point assisted by Matt Marusza. Teplansky put the set to bed for SUNY New Paltz with another kill assisted by Marusza.
 
The fourth set went up for grabs, as no team had more than a one point lead until Vassar grabbed a 12-10 advantage. SUNY New Paltz called a timeout to get reset and an attack error cut the Brewers lead to 15-13. The Hawks tried to get closer, but Vassar was not going to let that happen as it etched three straight points which gave them a 19-15 lead. Twenty points would be the closest the Hawks would get to the Brewers 24. A final kill secured the Brewers 25-20 fourth set win and a 3-1 win.
 
AJ Fitzgerald tallied nine kills, one assist, and five digs. Christopher Larkin notched seven kills, two aces, and four digs. Teplansky struck nine kills, two aces, and seven digs. Brawn had two kills and .500. Spiegel secured four kills and two assists. Shanley ended with one kill, 13 assists, and three digs. Marusza added 27 assists and five digs.

SUNY New Paltz returns home Friday, taking on United Volleyball Conference (UVC) opposition Nazareth in Elting Gym at 7 p.m.


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