The SUNY New Paltz men’s volleyball team hosted Bard College Wednesday night and soared past the Raptors in three sets, 30-15, 30-25, 30-28.
The Hawks were led by first year middle hitter Kevin Stross (Port Washington, NY/Schreiber) with 18 kills and senior middle hitter Jake Moore (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Hendrick Hudson) added 17 kills and eight digs. Junior middle Daniel Liberto (Rush, NY/Rush-Henrietta) had eight kills, sophomore setter Andrew Cassius (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) dished out 36 assists and senior Mark Blair (Point Pleasant, NJ/Point Pleasant) tallied 12 digs.
In the first set, the Hawks jumped out to an early 8-2 lead and continued to pull away. Set two was tied at 3-3 before New Paltz tallied the next four points to take the lead for good. The Hawks led 23-20 and tallied four of the next six points to go up 27-22 en route to the 30-25 final. In set three, Bard took a 10-5 advantage before New Paltz responded with six of the next seven points to tie the game at 11-11. The teams traded points for awhile and the game was tied at 20-20 until Moore tallied a kill and Bard had two attacking errors to give New Paltz the edge they needed to finish the match in three sets.
The Hawks advance to 4-3 on the season and 2-0 in the NECVA. The Hawks return to the court Saturday when they travel to the NJCU Tournament.
