SPRINGFIELD, MA — The No. 7 State University of New York New Paltz's 2026 run to a national championship came to an end Saturday in the second round against hosting and No. 1 nationally ranked Springfield College in four sets, 26-28, 25-15, 20-25, 18-25. New Paltz had its season come to an end with a 23-8 record.
 
The Hawks' offense was dominant against No. 9 NYU Friday in the opening round of the national tournament, and they picked up where they left off in what felt like a match-deciding opening set.
 
"First I want to congratulate Springfield that qualified for the Final Four," said SUNY New Paltz coach Radu Petrus. "I wish them good luck. I think it was a very good, exciting game. We lost the first set and if we put that down a little bit, I think that [would have forced] Springfield to recover. I think until the end it was a good game."

The team hit at a .346 clip, but the Pride were just as efficient, hitting .464 in the stanza. SUNY New Paltz went up by six after a kill from Michael Spiegel brought the score to 15-9. Springfield slowly climbed back in and tied the set at 16-all thanks to a serving run by Dylan Mulvaney that led to a 4-0 run, capped by consecutive hitting errors from the Hawks.
 
Matt Teplansky subbed in at opposite for Spiegel and the senior made an immediate impact, registering a kill off a set from Daniel Shanley that pushed SUNY New Paltz back ahead, 18-16. Teplansky came through again down the stretch, as he smartly tipped a ball past two Pride blockers to end a rally, which tied the score at 24-all after Springfield managed set point.
 

The Farmingdale, NY native then served the next point for ace to bring his team set point. Teplansky played in another good ball, floating a ball in the middle of the court that gave the Pride trouble, but the hosts kept the ball up and ultimately took advantage with a kill to tie the period once again.
 
After trading points, Springfield served the last ball in and capitalized off a free ball back over the net for the kill to steal the 1-0 lead in the match, 28-26.  
"I feel like in the first set, we played well we just didn't come out with it," said SUNY New Paltz sophomore libero Max Debonis. "Honestly, that led to our demise. If we go first set, second set it's much easier to find that third set later in the game. And ultimately, that's what it came down to. We couldn't finish the first set and we kind of rolled over at the end. We just have to pick it up. We'll be back next year."
 
Despite the unfortunate loss in the first, the Hawks kept momentum in the second and rolled to a 10-point lead. An attacking error allowed SUNY New Paltz set point at 24-14 and Krish Jain sealed the victory on a kill off an assist from Matt Marusza two points later at 25-15.
 
However, the Hawks couldn't duplicate that success offensively in the following two sets as Springfield came out in the third and held a comfortable, 15-9 lead. The Pride were efficient offensively, totaling 17 kills in the stanza with only two errors, hitting .455 as they passed well off SUNY New Paltz's tries from the service line. They ultimately took set point at 24-19 following a kill by Jake DesLauriers and won the period on a kill from AJ Seveland two points later to go up, 2-1 in the match as his swing bounced off the hands of the Hawks' Nikko Tenedorio on the block landing out of bounds for the winning point.
 
"It was an offensive battle all night long," said SUNY New Paltz junior outside Geoff Ndoria. "It was a side-out battle, who could side-out better and at the end of the day, they won that side-out battle. It just came down to us serving hard. They were in-system more often and that was pretty much it."  
Springfield continued to find success and got out to a 14-6 lead in the fourth. The Hawks never recovered from the deficit and trailed by eight after a hitting error from Teplansky brought the score to 22-14. Senior captain Daniel Shanley willed his team back in as he got up for back-to-back kills to cut the score to 23-17 but then served hard into the net, which allowed Springfield to earn match point. Shanley set Tenedorio for the kill, allowing his team to side-out, but the Pride ended the match on a kill to solidify their spot into the Final Four next weekend back in their own Blake Arena.
 
"From the beginning of the season we knew Springfield was going to be the team to beat," said SUNY New Paltz junior serving specialist Matt Kudlinski.  "It felt like a prophecy coming true being able to see them in the NCAA Tournament. All season long we kind of had Springfield as our target and when we beat them in the regular season, it was a great feeling showing that it's possible to come out on top. But again, we just weren't able to do it in the tournament and we fell short."
 
Ndoria led all players with 18 points on 14 kills and four aces. He hit .481 in the match and added two digs. Teplansky followed with 14.5 points on 13 kills. Kudlinski was accurate from the serving line, also totaling four aces to go along with one dig. Marusza finished with 41 assists, one ace, a block and five digs.
 
SUNY New Paltz ends the year at 23-8 overall, which marked the most wins since 2019 and the first time earning a second round NCAA appearance since 2022.
 
The 2026 season also concludes an era of Hawks volleyball, as the team enters the NEWMAC next season alongside Springfield, while also graduating five seniors that all were staples within the lineup over the last four years which included Shanley, Jain, Teplansky, middle Mike Handell and libero Luke Hofer.
 
"We go next year into the NEWMAC with Springfield, and we will be the best conference," Petrus said. "For us, we'll have a lot of improving because we had a competitive game… hopefully [with] more experience [in the NCAA Tournament] we'll do better."
 
Post-Game Presser featuring coach Radu Petrus, Matt Kudlinski, Geoff Ndoria and Max DeBonis