Hawks Pull Out First Win Against MIT

CAMBRIDGE, MA — The SUNY New Paltz men’s volleyball team came from behind to defeat MIT Saturday afternoon 3-2 (30-32, 30-22, 29-31, 35-33, 15-8) for their first victory of the season.

With the win the Hawks improve to 1-14, and avenge a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Engineers on Feb. 15.

MIT took game one 32-30 before the Hawks evened the match by taking game two 30-22. The Engineers seemed to take control of the match taking game three 31-29, but the Hawks battled back to take game four 35-33 to bring the match to a fifth and deciding game. New Paltz outmatched MIT in the final game 15-8 giving first-year head coach Matt Giufre his first career men’s volleyball victory.

Chris Ganje (Halfmoon, NY) led the charge for the Hawks tallying 30 kills for the match. Mike LaRocco (Hauppauge, NY) added 17, Chris Grunwald (St. James, NY) had 15, and Greg Jackson (Central Square, NY) added 11. Kevin Buggs (Tonawanda, NY) finished the match with 65 assists.

The Hawks look to make it two in a row Wednesday at East Stroudsburg.