Men’s Volleyball Falls to #14 Emmanuel in Five Sets

NEW PALTZ, NY- The New Paltz men’s volleyball fell to #14 Emmanuel, 3-2 (23-30, 32-34, 30-25, 30-26, 15-11) in a five set thriller this morning in the New Paltz Hawks Tournament held in the Hawk Center. The Hawks fall to 2-2 overall and wrap-up the tournament against #10 Baruch at 2 p.m.

Jake Moore led the Hawks with 21 kills and eight digs and Kevin Stross added 19 kills with a .500 hitting percentage and four blocks. Dan Liberto chipped in with 14 kills and Sean Foley had a double-double with 11 kills and 12 blocks. Andrew Cassius had a double-double with a game-high 69 assists and 15 digs.

Curtis Abram led all attackers and five Emmanuel double-figure kills with 25 and Michael Townsend had a double-double with 18 kills and 15 digs. Tyson Rietz chipped in with a double-double with 13 kills, 11 digs and three blocks.

In the first set, the teams traded points to a 7-7 tie. Emmanuel would score two straight to get some breathing room, but the Hawks would tie with back-to-back kills from Moore and Foley. Foley would give the Hawks a one point advantage and would not surrender the lead. The Hawks a slight 22-20 advantage, but New Paltz would finish the set off winning eight of the next nine points for the 30-23 set victory.

In set two, Emmanuel took a 10-7 lead, but only to see the Hawks score seven of the next eight to take a 14-11 lead. Emmanuel would cut into the lead with two kills by Abram. No one team would hold more than a two point advantage for the rest of the set. With the game tied at 32-32, the Hawks were award a point after a yellow card on an Emmanuel player and Moore gave the Hawks a 2-0 set lead with a kill.

Emmanuel would bounce back in the third set after outscoring the Hawks 12-7 after the game was tied at 18-18. The teams battled back and forth to seven ties and four lead changes before the tie at 18-18.

In the fourth set, the Hawks came out firing. The Hawks opened with seven of the first 10 points and would hold an 18-13 lead in the set. But Emmanuel slowly chipped away at the lead and tied the game at 25 with a 12-7 run. Emmanuel would score five of the last six points and Abram finished the set off with back-to-back kills.

In the decisive fifth set, the Hawks jumped out to a 5-2 advantage, but Emmanuel rallied with a 5-1 run of their own to take a 7-6 lead. Emmanuel would finish the game off with a 6-3 run.