Patchogue, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz bounced back from a four-set loss to No. 7 Springfield Thursday with a four-set victory over hosting St. Joseph's-Long Island Saturday.

The Hawks improved to 5-6 overall with the victory, while the Golden Eagles dropped to 1-3 following the 3-1 win (25-12, 25-21, 25-27, 25-20).
 
SUNY New Paltz was dominant, scoring a season-high 73 points in a four-set match with 51 kills, 14 aces and eight total blocks, while hitting .270 on the day. Freshman outside Nikko Tenedorio was the catalyst offensively for the Hawks, as he finished with a game-high 23 points after registering 17 kills on 32 attempts (hitting .281) with two blocks, seven digs, an assist and a game-high five aces — out pacing St. Joseph's-LI in the category, as the hosts finished with just four aces.
 
The first set wasn't competitive, as the Hawks rolled to an easy 25-12 victory with the Golden Eagles only registering six kills in the stanza after hitting in the negatives. They got back up for the second though, but it wasn't enough to stop SUNY New Paltz, which ended the set on a 10-6 run to close on a 2-0 lead.
 
Tied at 16, a block by Mike Handell and Tenedorio sided out the Hawks with St. Joseph's-LI gifting SUNY New Paltz another point on a bad set. Tenedorio scored three of the next four points for SUNY New Paltz including a swing for a kill off an assist by Matt Marusza to push his team to set point at 24-19. The Golden Eagles climbed back in, earning points on serving and attacking errors by the Hawks, but Marusza went to Geoff Ndoria on the next point who came through with the kill to earn the second set victory for his team.
 
The third set was even tighter, as St. Joseph's-LI tied the score at 23 following a three-point run. Ndoria got SUNY New Paltz to set point with a kill, but the Golden Eagles answered with a kill of their own to even the score once again. Marusza registered a kill on a dump over the net on the next point to give the Hawks an opportunity to sweep the match, but St. Joseph's-LI sided out the next play on a service error and then tallied back-to-back kills to extend the match to a fourth.
 
SUNY New Paltz got out to a comfortable 20-12 lead in the fourth following a kill by Krish Jain, but the Golden Eagles slowly clawed back in and scored seven of the next nine points to trim the difference, 22-19. Peter Brutschiin helped his team side-out, registering a kill in the middle off a set by Daniel Shanley to bring the Hawks' lead to 23-19. A service error gave St. Joseph's-LI life, but it gave serve right back with Shanley sealing the win with an ace on the next point.
 
Ndoria followed Tenedorio offensively, adding 15 kills on 33 attempts, hitting .333 with two aces, a block and four digs for 17.5 points. Shanley finished with a team-high 31 assists with two aces, two blocks and seven digs. Marusza followed with 14 assists, while Jain chipped in with four kills on nine attempts with a team-leading five blocks to go along with five digs.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Tuesday, going back on the road to face Misericordia Tuesday at 7 p.m.


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