NEW PALTZ, NY- The New Paltz men’s volleyball team cruised past the visiting Raptors from Bard College, Wednesday night 3-0 (30-21, 30-17, 30-25) to improve to 5-4 overall and 2-0 in the NECVA. The Raptors suffer their first lost of the year and fall to 5-1 overall. The Hawks doubled the Raptors in service aces, 10-5 and the Hawks hit at least .400 in all three games.
Kevin Stross led the Hawks with 11 kills and a .474 hitting percentage and Sean Foley finished with 10 kills and a .692 hitting percentage. Jonathan Van Dyke had eight kills and three of the five team blocks. Dan Liberto and Mike Van Tyne each had six kills and Andrew Cassius handed out 38 assists. The Hawks had a team hitting percentage of .427 for the game.
Nick Chan led the Raptors with eight kills, 12 assists and three service aces. Henry Schenker finished with six kills and 14 assists. The Raptors had a .178 hitting percentage for the game.
In set one, the teams traded points to a 7-7 tie. The Hawks would score nine of the next 12 points to take control of the set with a 16-10 advantage. The Hawks extended their lead to seven on solo block by Stross. Van Dyke set the Hawks up for game point on his solo block and Bard’s Eliah Gardner gave the Hawks the 1-0 set lead with a ball handling error.
In set two, the Hawks wasted no time jumping out to an 8-3 advantage on a kill by Van Dyke. The Hawks continued to push their lead to 10 after another solo block by Van Dyke. New Paltz would cruise to the easy 30-17 set victory.
The third set, the Hawks jumped out to a 12-5 advantage on a service aces from Foley, but the Raptors clawed their way back to cut the Hawks lead to 21-20. The Hawks held strong and would score nine of the last 13 points to win in straight sets.
