HOBOKEN, NJ — The State University of New York New Paltz avenged an early season loss to then No. 6 Stevens Institute of Technology with a 3-0 sweep of the now No. 4 nationally ranked Ducks Saturday, going into Canavan Arena to capture its eighth consecutive victory.
The Hawks improved to 16-5 overall and rolled to their second straight nationally ranked win after taking down No. 1 Springfield in the Hawk Center Wednesday night. SUNY New Paltz avenged an early season loss to Stevens in straight sets by doing the same to the Ducks on their home floor Saturday, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21.
SUNY New Paltz had one of its most productive offensive performances against Stevens, hitting .318 with 59 points and added more kills (49-34), aces (4-3), blocks (6-4) and assists (43-33) than the hosts. Matt Marusza was the facilitator as he totaled a game-high 40 assists, while adding two kills, an ace, two block assists and a team-leading eight digs.
The first set was tied 12 times before Michael Spiegel sided out for the Hawks to push his team to set point at 24-23. With John Giotis serving, Marusza had an opportunity and went to outside Nikko Tenedorio who slammed a kill for the 1-0 lead.
SUNY New Paltz got out to a 7-1 lead to start the second, but the Ducks re-took the lead on a hitting error at 12-11, which came in the middle of an 8-1 run by the hosts to go up, 17-12 that was capped with an ace. A kill by Tenedorio allowed the Hawks to side-out and the visitors slowly continued to chip away at the deficit.
Peter Brutschin went up for a swing in the middle and added a kill to allow coach Radu Petrus to sub in serving specialist Matt Kudlinski at 22-23. The junior came in clutch, serving four-straight points as kills by Tenedorio, Spiegel and then Tenedorio allowed the Hawks to come away with the set two victory.
The Hawks held momentum and after Stevens went up early in set three, 8-7, they countered with five straight points and never trailed from that point forward. Spiegel got his team to match point on a hard swing off a set from Daniel Shanley and Geoff Ndoria ended the game off a set by Marusza two points later to solidify the 3-0 win for the Hawks.
Tenedorio led the team offensively with 12 kills on 27 attempts, adding two block assists and six digs. Spiegel followed with 10 kills on 25 attempts, tallying a half block and six digs. Krish Jain recorded seven kills on 14 attempts, adding two blocks and a dig, while Ndoria and Brutschin each had six kills.
SUNY New Paltz is back home Wednesday, hosting Nichols in the Hawk Center for a 6 p.m. match.