The SUNY New Paltz men’s volleyball team traveled to Philadelphia Biblical Friday night to face the third nationally ranked team in their last four matches. The Hawks were pitted against the ninth-ranked Crimson Eagles and fell to PBU 3-1 (30-25, 34-32, 26-30, 30-28).
First year Kevin Stross led the offense for the night as he amassed a .464 hitting percent with 16 kills on 28 attempts and three errors, in addition to six block assists. Senior Ryan Huberty tallied 15 kills and 19 digs and classmate Mark Blair added 12 kills, eight digs and two aces. Junior Dan Liberto hit .450 on the night on 11 kills in 20 attempts with two errors. First year Frank Ciccone dished out 46 assists and Eric Rothbard contributed 16 digs on the defensive side of things.
Game one saw the score tied at 5-5 before the Crimson Eagles took a lead and never trailed again. Set two was a back and fourth battle to the end until PBU rallied for the final two points on a kill and a block for the 34-32 final. New Paltz claimed set three as they held a two-four point edge for the second half of the game. In set four the Hawks trailed 29-25 before cutting the score to 29-28 on a PBU service error, a block and a kill. Hoping to send the set to extra points, the Hawks registered their 22nd service error of the evening to end the match with the Crimson Eagles on top 3-1.
New Paltz falls to 13-10 on the season and will return to the court on Tuesday March 10th when they travel to Mt. St. Vincent for a 7pm match-up.
