Men’s Volleyball Opens Season 1-1

The men’s volleyball team began their 2009 season Friday night as they hosted day one of the Hawks Invitational. New Paltz fell to Sacred Heart in their first match 3-1 (30-22, 35-33, 18-30, 30-24) before capturing their second match in a dramatic 3-2 fashion (30-27, 30-27, 27-30, 28-30, 15-12).

Senior Ryan Huberty led the Hawks with 14 kills and 11 digs against Sacred Heart. Alex Jackson finished with 13 kills and Mark Blair chipped in with 12 kills. Jake Moore added eight kills and 13 digs while Andrew Cassius handed out 33 assists.

Set one was tied at 13-13 before Sacred Heart began to pull away and New Paltz could not recover. Set two was a battle to the end that saw Sacred Heart come out on top. Huberty tied the set at 33 all on a kill before Sacred Heart tallied the final two kills to close the set. The Hawks cruised to a 30-18 victory in set three but were unable to keep the momentum going into the final set. New Paltz hit .226 in the match and combined for eight aces and eight blocks.

Moore paced the attack in the win over MIT with 20 kills, 13 digs and six blocks, including five solo blocks. Jackson totaled 14 kills, Blair registered 12 kills and Huberty finished with 11 kills and 10 digs. Cassius dished out 55 assists and 21 digs.

The first set was tied at 13 before the Hawks capitalized the three consecutive attack errors by MIT to take the lead and never trailed again. Set two was very similar with the final tie coming at 20-20 before New Paltz maintained the lead. In the third set, New Paltz trailed 16-9 and battled back to 16-15 behind the powerful serving of Kevin Stross but it wasn’t enough to put New Paltz ahead. The fourth set was tied at 28-28 but a kill by MIT and an attacking error by the Hawks would force the fifth set. New Paltz trailed 8-7 but quickly evened the game again on a kill by Moore. Both teams exchanged points and were tied at 10-10. MIT had their third service error of the set to give New Paltz the edge and they followed up with a kill by Jackson. The Hawks were up 14-12 and completed the match on another Jackson kill.

New Paltz will return to action on Saturday at 11am when they face Emmanuel.

Complete Scores from day one:
Sacred Heart def New Paltz 3-1 (30-22, 35-33, 18-30, 30-24)
Sacred Heart def MIT 3-2 (24-30, 24-30, 30-25, 30-27, 15-10)
New Paltz def MIT 3-2 (30-27, 30-27, 27-30, 28-30, 15-12)
Eastern Mennonite def Elms 3-0 (30-21, 30-26, 30-28)
Emmanuel def Elms 3-1 (30-28, 26-30, 30-27, 35-33)
Eastern Mennonite def Emmanuel 3-2 (30-32, 28-30, 30-23, 30-18, 15-9)

Match-ups for Saturday:
Elms v MIT
New Paltz v Emmanuel
Sacred Heart v Eastern Mennonite (Championship)