Marcy, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz put an end to a losing skid with a pair of victories Saturday on the road over hosting SUNY Poly and Houghton.
 
The Hawks defeated the Wildcats in four sets (25-15, 26-28, 25-20, 25-16) and the Highlanders in straight sets (25-12, 25-11, 25-20) to improve to 2-5 overall.
 
They opened up the day against Poly and took the first set easily thanks to a 9-0 run early in the period to go up 14-5 as Matt Teplansky served through the stretch. Nikko Tenedorio pushed the Hawks to set point at 24-15 with Tenedorio closing out the win on another spike off a free ball to give his team a 1-0 lead.

The Wildcats won the second in extra points, 28-26, but SUNY New Paltz came back to win the third, 25-20. Matt Marusza pushed the Hawks ahead, 23-17 before helping his team to set point two plays later as he set Tenedorio for a kill at 24-18. Poly fought back to get within four, but a serving error allowed SUNY New Paltz to claim the set and get ahead in the match, 2-1.
 
The Hawks took a 14-5 lead early in the fourth as Michael Spiegel served through the stretch with Tenedorio and Geoff Ndoria registering kills off assists from Marusza with Spiegel tallying back-to-back aces before Artair Kayser and Ndoria capped the stretch with a double block. An ace by Spiegel ultimately got SUNY New Paltz to match point as it finalized its first win of the season two points later on a Poly serving error.
 
Tenedorio led the team offensively with 14 kills, hitting .478 with an ace and four digs. Teplansky followed with six kills, two aces, a block and two digs, while Peter Brutschin added five kills, hitting .571 with an ace and four blocks.  
The Hawks offense was evenly distributed in their sweep of Houghton to close out the afternoon. Ndoria and Matt Kudlinksi each had nine kills, followed by Spiegel with eight. Kudlinski led the team with 15.5 points after recording a career-high six aces to go along with a block and five digs. Ndoria added an assist, a block and seven digs for 9.5 points, while Spiegel finished with three aces, a block and two digs for 11.5 points. Marusza facilitated the offense, recording a team-leading 34 assists.
 
Kudlinski gave SUNY New Paltz set point at 24-11 following a kill after Kayser slammed home a kill to allow his team side-out the play before. Kudlinski finalized the 25-12 set after another kill off a set by Marusza.
 
After the Highlanders closed the gap to 14-7 in the second, the Hawks rattled off seven-straight points thanks to five aces by Kudlinski in the stretch to give his team a comfortable 14-point advantage. Ndoria pushed his team to set point, and an attacking error sealed the second, 25-11.
 
The third stanza was tighter, as Houghton got within one at 17-16 following a hitting error by Spiegel. The Highlanders allowed SUNY New Paltz to side-out immediately following a service error and Kudlinski followed with a kill. Each team then traded consecutive points, but ultimately, the Hawks got to match point following back-to-back successful swings by Kudlinski and Ndoria, coupled with an attacking error to grab a 24-19 lead. A service error by both teams ended the match in favor of SUNY New Paltz, 25-20.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Wednesday for its home opener on its freshly minted court in the Hawk Center, hosting Kean at 7 p.m.  

  
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