No. 3 Vassar College and No. 5 SUNY New Paltz advanced to the 2025 UVC Championship Semifinals after earning wins in first round action from the John A. Paulson Center on the campus of New York University on Friday, April 11. New Paltz began the day by defeating No. 4 seed St. John Fisher University in a five-set thriller, while the Brewers knocked off No. 6 Hobart College in three sets.
 
The Hawks of New Paltz will take on host and top-seed NYU in the first semifinal at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, while Vassar and No. 2 Nazareth University will meet in the second semifinal at 5 p.m. Saturday. The two semifinals will meet for the 2025 UVC Championship on Sunday at 2 p.m. The 2025 UVC Champion will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship Tournament.
 
NO. 5 SUNY NEW PALTZ 3, NO. 4 ST. JOHN FISHER 2 (25-20, 22-25, 27-29, 26-24, 15-8)
In a hard-fought, five-set classic, New Paltz (14-13) avenged its regular season loss to St. John Fisher. 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 the Cardinals 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 Fisher 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 Fisher answered with three-straight points to take a 23-18 lead.
 
The third was tied at 23 after a kill pushed Fisher 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. The Cardinals 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 Fisher, 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 Fisher 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.
 
Gabe La Robardiere led the Cardinals with 18 kills, while his brother Trace had a match-high 15 digs. Gavin Newman dished out 53 assists.
  
NO. 3 VASSAR 3, NO. 6 HOBART 0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-15)
No. 3 seed Vassar (22-5), the ninth-ranked team in Division III, hit .315 overall as a team and a regular season loss to defeat No. 6 seed Hobart (20-9) in three sets, 25-18, 27-25, 25-15.
 
Hobart took the early 5-3 lead following two winners from Andrew Kim and one kill apiece from Alain Malcolm and Benjamin Lincoln. VC answered to take a 10-7 advantage after two kills from senior Tobias Clark and an ace from senior Gavin Akoto and classmate Payne Lounsbery. Three kills and an ace from sophomore Armaan Desai spurred Vassar ahead 15-9. Kim and Daniel Sappia each buried a kill to draw within 17-12 before the Brewers used a kill each from Akoto and Clark to clinch the first set.
 
In the second set, both teams traded points in the early going as a kill and a block from Malcolm put the Statesmen ahead 8-6. The lead increased to 13-9 on two kills from Kim and a block from Kian Kischke until VC got within a point at 15-14 on an ace from senior Billy Fan. A three-point run from a kill from Kim and a block from Malcolm and Lincoln to push the lead to 18-14. Two blocks from Lounsbery and Desai evened the score at 18 and the score evened at 25 following a Hobart attack error. VC earned the second set win on an ace from Fan and a triple block from Clark, Akoto and first year Henry Bonney.

Vassar raced out to an 8-3 lead in the third set behind an ace each from Fan and Birnbaum along with kills from Birnbaum and Clark. A winner each from Birnbaum, Desai and Clark put the Brewers ahead 16-8. Back-to-back service aces from junior Tristan Christofferson expanded the lead to 19-9. VC collected the final two points on a Clark kill and a triple block from Fan, Desai and Birnbaum to punch its ticket to the semifinals.

Birnbaum led the way for Vassar with 15 kills, five blocks and four digs while Clark recorded eight kills, four blocks and six digs. Desai recorded five kills and 10 blocks (one solo) along with Akoto registering six winners and two blocks. Fan tallied three kills, four aces, three blocks and three digs while Lounsbery handed out 32 assists and liffed six digs.

For Hobart, Kim closed the match with 21 kills and nine digs while Sappia recorded three kills and five digs. Malcolm tallied three kills and two blocks along with Lincoln registered 14 assists and eight digs. Zack Farren added 10 assists while Gavin Meador lifted six digs.

Looking ahead to the semifinal matchups, earlier in the season, No. 3 seed Vassar swept No. 2 Nazareth in three sets at home on Feb. 28, while top-seed NYU defeated No. 5 seed New Paltz in three sets on the road on March 12, 25-23, 26-24, 25-17.
 
2025 UVC Championship Schedule (All matches at NYU)

Friday, April 11 – First Round
No. 5 SUNY New Paltz defeated No. 4 St. John Fisher University, 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 27-29, 26-24, 15-9) – BOX SCORE
No. 3 Vassar College defeated No. 6 Hobart College, 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-15) – BOX SCORE

Saturday, April 12 – Semifinals
No. 5 New Paltz at No. 1 NYU – 2:30 p.m. – VIDEO/LIVE STATS
No. 3 Vassar vs. No. 2 Nazareth – 5 p.m. – VIDEO/LIVE STATS

Sunday, April 13 - Championship
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2 – 2 p.m. – VIDEO/LIVE STATS

ABOUT THE UNITED VOLLEYBALL CONFERENCE
The United Volleyball Conference (UVC) is a volleyball-specific conference that features nine member institutions. The conference was founded in 2010 and began play in January of 2011. The UVC holds fair play and respect among its competitors to the highest regard and seeks to distinguish itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices.
 
For more on the UVC visit www.theuvc.org