NEW PALTZ, NY- The New Paltz men’s volleyball team fell to the visiting Bearcats of Baruch to wrap-up the New Paltz Hawks Tournament, 3-1 (27-30, 30-27, 30-28, 30-27) Saturday afternoon in the Hawk Center.
Four Hawks tallied double-figures in kills led by Dan Liberto with 17 and had a hitting percentage of .400. Kevin Stross and Jake Moore each had 14 kills and two blocks a piece. Sean Foley chipped in with 11 kills and seven digs. Andrew Cassius had a game-high 56 assists and nine digs as the Hawks fall to 2-3 overall.
Tournament MVP, Pablo Oliveira had a game-high 30 kills and ERYK Kowalski added 16 kills and four blocks. Radu Wyrwas had a double-double with 31 assists and 10 kills. Ivan Andujar had a team-high 33 assists and five digs.
In the first set, the Hawks jumped out quickly to a 2-0 advantage on back-to-back kills from Stross. Tied at 9-9, the Hawks would rattle off two on a Liberto and Stross kill and the Hawks would extend their lead to 16-12 with a 7-3 run. The Hawks would off the Wildcats for the set victory.
In the second set, Baruch would score the first three points, but the Hawks worked their way back to tie the game at 6-6. The Hawks eventually took the lead at 10-9 on a serving error on Baruch. Baruch would regain the lead on a block from Kowalski an Oliveira. The game was tied at 23-23 when Baruch scored five straight points and held off the Hawks to tie the match at 1-1.
The third set, the game was tied 4-4 when the Hawks would score five straight only to see Baruch battle back to tie the set at 9-9. Baruch trailed 24-22, but would score eight of the last 12 points to take the set and hold a 2-1 advantage.
The final set, the teams battled back and forth with no team holding more than a two point lead until Baruch’s George Chave blocked an attack by the Hawks that gave the Bearcats a 21-18 advantage. The Hawks trailed 26-21 and stormed back to within one at 28-27. After a timeout to slow the momentum of the Hawks by Baruch, Oliveira ended the game on back-to-back kills.
