Hawks Drop 3-2 Match To Defending National Champion Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, MA — The upset-minded New Paltz men’s volleyball team gave two- time defending national champion Springfield College all it could handle Saturday night, taking the Pride to a fifth and deciding game.

The Hawks won game one 31-29 before Springfield took a 2-1 lead winning games two and three, 30-14 and 30-25. New Paltz sent the match to the final game taking game four 30- 27 but came up short 15-11.

Chris Ganje (Halfmoon, NY) tallied 21 kills on the night for the Hawks and Mike LaRocco (Hauppauge, NY) added 14. Ian Henderson (Redding, CT) contributed 11 kills and Kevin Buggs (Tonawanda, NY) finished the match with 49 assists.

For the Pride, Brandon Mueller (Bartlett, IL) compiled 21 kills while Greg Lardo (Hamburg, NY) registered 17.

The Pride ups its record to 19-6 on the season while the Hawks drop to 3-20.

New Paltz will play Roger Williams tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. in Bristol, RI.