Men’s Volleyball Finishes Third at Gothic Knight Invitational; Stross Named All-Tournament

The men’s volleyball team took third place by finishing 2-1 at the New Jersey City University Gothic Knight Invitational on Saturday. The Hawks improve to 6-4 on the season.

New Paltz had one selection to the All-Tournament Team as freshman middle hitter Kevin Stross (Port Washington, NY/Schreiber) hit .475 in 10 games with 34 kills (34-6-59), eight service aces and five blocks. He averaged 3.40 kills, 080 aces and 0.50 blocks per set.

The Hawks opened the day with a 3-0 sweep (30-14, 30-19, 30-22) over SUNYIT. Junior Dan Liberto finished a match high 11 kills and Stross added seven kills and five aces. Senior Jake Moore tallied seven kills and seven digs. Andrew Cassius dished out 25 assists.

New Paltz fell to Newbury 3-0 (30-28, 30-19, 30-25) in match two of the day. Liberto paced the attack with 10 kills and Stross registred eight kills. Ryan Huberty and Alex Jackson each chipped in with five kills with Cassius handed out 35 assists.

The Hawks faced NJCU in the third place match and won 3-1 (30-23, 28-30, 30-27, 30-13). Stross totaled a match-high 19 kills with a .567 attack percentage, while Liberto registered 18 kills, 11 digs. Moore finished with 13 kills, 11 digs. Cassius added 61 kills and seven digs.

New Paltz returns to the court on Monday when they travel to Purchase for a 7pm NECVA matchup.