New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz UVC Championship hopes were dashed Sunday in the Hawk Center.
The Hawks (22-7 overall, 6-1 UVC) played a hard-fought four-set match with three of the four sets going into extra points, but ultimately the No. 2 seeded MIT Engineers bested the hosts, 24-26, 25-19, 27-25, 27-25 to claim the final UVC Championship trophy in the conference's existence.
The two teams were statistically evenly matched with SUNY New Paltz hitting slightly better at .281 compared to MIT's .245 in the match. Both teams scored 67 points with the Engineers holding the slight advantage in kills (53-52), aces (9-6) and assists (51-50), with the Hawks' defense picking up their offense as they totaled more blocks (9-5) and digs (52-44) than their opposition.
SUNY New Paltz's offense struggled to open the match, and coach
Radu Petrus was forced to use one of his two timeouts early in the first set. MIT led by as many as six in the first, including at 18-12 with Engineers' Nate Toth (18 kills) their go-to hitter. A service error allowed the Hawks to side out and Petrus subbed in serving specialist
Matt Kudlinski who helped get his team back within one as he served through a four-point run. He forced two hitting errors, sandwiched between an ace to cut the score to 19-18.
The Hawks didn't take their first lead until 21-20 on a miss-hit by Toth and after trading leads,
Nikko Tenedorio brought his team to set point after smashing a free ball thanks to a hard serve from
Daniel Shanley to create a 24-23 score. SUNY New Paltz couldn't put the first away, however, as the Engineers scored three-straight points to earn a 1-0 lead in the match, helped by a two-point swing at the service line. An error from the Hawks was juxtaposition by an ace from MIT with Colin Zimmerman sealing the stanza with a kill for MIT.
Gallery: (4-12-2026) Mens Volleyball vs. MIT UVC Championship
SUNY New Paltz regrouped in the second and let its defense lead the way, finishing long rallies thanks to some great digs from their back row.
Matt Marusza served the ball in and after a diving save from
Max DeBonis and then from
Daniel Shanley, the ball came back over and Marusza set Shanley on the outside, getting his attempt to fall for a kill to boost the lead to 14-10. The play set the tone for the set, as the Hawks rolled to a 25-19 win in the second, scoring the last three points of the stanza with
Michael Spiegel capping the period on a swing.
Set three was tied 15 times. A service error handed SUNY New Paltz set point at 24-23, but MIT's Braden Baker knotted the score at 24-all with a kill. Tenedorio helped his team side out with a kill off a set from DeBonis, but the Engineers countered with three straight points, first siding out on a kill from Matthew Louis before Henry Garewal served two good balls in resulting in Hawks' attacking errors, which solidified the third, 27-25.
The fourth set mirrored the third, as the stanza was tied 13 times.
Matt Teplansky pushed his team ahead with a kill at 23-22 before Tenedorio emphatically pushed his team to set point as he smashed a free ball off a poor reception off a Teplansky serve.
A kill by Toth allowed the Engineers to sideout and on the next point, the game turned. Toth served the next point in and after the ball went back-and-forth Marusza set Tenedorio on the outside who swung in what seemingly was a touch off the block from MIT that landed out of bounds. The team and home crowd ignited thinking the fourth concluded and a fifth and deciding set was needed, but the head official deemed no touch with the ball going out, resulting in a point for the Engineers. Play continued as the call was upheld and Tenedorio won a point back on the next play with a kill to create set point for SUNY New Paltz once again, but the Engineers closed out with the revived life.
MIT scored three-straight to take the win, all on kills, coming from Baker, Louis and then Baker again to secure the UVC crown.
Tenedorio led the offense with 12 kills on 25 attempts, hitting .320 with three aces, three blocks and 10 digs. Shanley followed with eight kills on 19 attempts, hitting .368 with two assists and four digs. Marusza facilitated the offense, posting 40 assists with a block. DeBonis played maybe his best game of his career, as he was all over the floor for the Hawks. The sophomore libero finished with a career- and team-most 13 digs.
Nikko Tenedorio and
Matt Marusza were both named to the UVC All-Tournament team with Toth earning UVC Tournament MVP.
Despite the loss, SUNY New Paltz is primed for its season to continue as it pursues a Division III National Championship. Brackets will be announced Monday at 10 a.m. with the national tournament beginning with the play-in round April 16.
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