Hawks To Play For Regular Season Title

NEW PALTZ — When SUNY New Paltz hosts Sacred Heart for a men’s volleyball match tomorrow night at Elting Gymnasium, the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Odeneal Division regular season title and a spot in the EIVA Tournament will be on the line.

New Paltz (18-6 overall, 6-1 EIVA Odeneal), which is currently ranked seventh in Division III, defeated the Division I Pioneers in five games on Feb. 8.

The Hawks have their best winning percentage (.750) since 1989, when they finished 26-8 (.765) under longtime coach Tony Bonilla. The last time a New Paltz team had fewer losses was in 1986, when Bonilla, now an Educational Opportunity Program advisor at the university, was one of the team’s star players. That year, the Hawks went a perfect 30-0, and dropped just one game all season (75 games played).

From 1984-86, under legendary volleyball coach and former national clinician Dr. William Odeneal, New Paltz compiled an astonishing 94-2 record, including undefeated (30-0) seasons in 1984 and 1986. In 1985, the Hawks were nearly perfect, at 34-2, with the only blemishes on their record coming against Columbia and the University of Maryland.

This season, New Paltz has won 18 of its last 22 matches, and four of its last six, with one of the two recent losses coming at Division I George Mason last Tuesday in Virginia. Two Hawk players – Beau Warren and Sean Riley – have been named the AVCA/Sports Imports Division III National Player of the Week, and four players – Warren, Riley, Christopher Wright and Carlos Tollinche – continue to be listed among the national statistical leaders.

New Paltz has three regular season matches remaining after Tuesday. The Hawks play at eighth-ranked Springfield College on April 2, are at Mount St. Vincent on April 3, and host Division II East Stroudsburg on April 5.

If the Hawks are the top finisher in the Odeneal, they will be the ninth seed for the EIVA Tournament and participate in a play-in match at the site of the eighth seed on April 17 or 18.

The top two teams in the EIVA’s Hay Division will earn the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively. That means New Paltz would play at either St. Francis (Pa.) or New York University.

The winner of the play-in match would advance to play the tournament’s top seed, which would come from the Tait Division – either Penn State or Concordia – in the EIVA quarterfinals.