New York, NY — The Hawks are moving on.
 
In a hard-fought, five-set classic on the floor of John A. Paulson Center on the campus of New York University, the State University of New York New Paltz knocked off No. 4 seed St. John Fisher College in round one of the United Volleyball Conference Tournament Thursday. The match not only needed to be decided in five, but the third and fourth went extra points as the two sides played in one of the tightest matches of the year.
 
The game was won at the net and at the serving line, as the Hawks totaled 14 blocks and eight aces to help carry them into their first UVC semifinal appearance since 2022.
 
The Cardinals, who entered the match ranked No. 13 in the nation and ends their season at 24-9 overall, out-hit SUNY New Paltz offensively, tallying 63 kills to 56, while registering 58 assists compared to 52 for the Hawks. SUNY New Paltz's defense stepped up to allow SJFC to hit just .114 and .042 in the final two sets and overall yielded a hitting percentage of .240, while they registered a .280 hitting average for the game.
 
 
Matt Marusza spread the offense around, as his team-high 47 assists went to nine different hitters. Outsides Daniel Shanley and Nikko Tenedorio led the way with 16 and 14 kills, respectively. Shanley hit .379 on 29 attempts, while adding three aces and five digs for a team-high 19 points. Tenedorio followed, hitting .296 on 27 attempts with an ace, four blocks and nine digs. Krish Jain and Peter Brutschin were critical in the middle, combining for 13 blocks.
 
SUNY New Paltz took the first set, 25-20 and held an 19-14 after two service errors by the Cardinals. The two teams traded points on 14 consecutive serves to keep the five-point difference with SJFC struggling to serve in the court. The Hawks earned set point at 24-19 after a serving error with back-to-back serving errors ending the set in favor of SUNY New Paltz.
 
The second was tied at 13, but a 5-0 run allowed the Cardinals to take control of the stanza, and they never relinquished the lead from there. Shanley got his team within two following a kill, but SJFC answered with three-straight points to take a 23-18 lead. Shanley sided out with a kill and served the next point, forcing an attacking error to trim the score to 23-20, but a kill allowed the Cardinals to get to set point and they closed the period with a kill three points later to tie the match at 1-1 following the 25-22 set-two win.
 
The third was tied at 23 after a kill pushed SJFC to set point. Peter Brutschin kept the period alive, going up for a solo block before Shanley helped the Hawks to set point on a kill a point later. The Cardinals tied the score at 25-all with a kill of their own, but Brutschin registered a point with a swing on a set from Marusza to get his team to set point once again. SJFC wouldn't go away, however, as a kill allowed them to serve for set point, leading to an ace. The set was tied once more at 27-all on a service error, but the Cardinals scored the last two points following a hitting error by Shanley and a kill on a free ball to allow them to take a 2-1 lead following a 29-27 victory.
 
The fourth set also needed extra point to decide with the Hawks showing their resiliency to force a deciding fifth-set. The score was tied at 18 after two straight points by SJFC, but a pair of hitting errors allowed SUNY New Paltz to get out in front with Jain extending the run with a kill to push his team's advantage to 21-18.
 
The Hawks stayed in front until consecutive kills by SJFC tied the score at 23-all. Brutschin came in clutch again, as the freshman swung for another kill to capture set point for his team. The Cardinals quickly sided out following a kill but served out to push SUNY New Paltz back to set point at 25-24. Tenedorio served the last point, leading to a Marusza and Geoff Ndoria block on the outside to knot the match at two sets apiece.
 
SUNY New Paltz carried all the momentum into the fifth. The score was tied at seven, but Ndoria gave the Hawks the one-point lead at the switch and from there, they rattled off five-straight points to secure a 12-7 lead. A kill finally allowed the Cardinals to side-out, but a setting error gave the ball back to SUNY New Paltz with Ndoria serving the last two points, leading to attacking errors to finalize the Hawks trip back to NYU Saturday.
 
SUNY New Paltz returns to John A. Paulson Center Saturday, trying to pull another upset this time over hosting No. 1 seed, No. 1 nationally ranked, undefeated NYU. The semifinal matchup is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. The winner will face the winner of Vassar/Hobart/ Nazareth semifinal. The Championship round is scheduled for Sunday 2 p.m.


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