The men’s volleyball team did not take a break this year. Starting on Jan. 14, the Hawks have had game after game. They were able to win four out of their six games going into this weekend. The Hawks prepared for a double header on Jan. 29, but it was postponed due to the massive snowstorm. Fortunately, the double header took place the very next day.
On Jan. 30, the Hawks faced off against New Jersey City University and Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. New Paltz took on New Jersey City first, and then Stevens for an epic Sunday showdown.
The match against New Jersey City started off strong, with fourth-year outside hitter Tim Drake scoring his way into an early 8-7 lead for the Hawks, and then later on taking them into a 15-11 lead with a big kill in the first set. New Jersey City tried to close the gap, even coming to 23-22 towards the end, but Drake ended the first set with a kill. This led to a 25-23 score for set one.
The rest of the sets went off without a hitch, with great performance by Drake and third-year middle blocker Pat Wing. Set two was dominated with a 25-19 score, and set three had the same score. Wing walked away with 14 kills, and Drake pulled 12. Fourth-year setter Kyle Shaffer had a game high with 37 assists for his team. With an impressive win against the Gothic Knights under their belt, New Paltz moved on to face Stevens.
The Hawks started off strong against Stevens. Drake, Wing, and fourth-year middle blocker John Ronan were all able to bag kills, and the team pulled off two aces in the very beginning. They were able to stay in the lead for the first half, and every time the Ducks stole a point, the Hawks took one right back. Kills from fourth-year John Ronon and King took the Hawks to the win, and they finished the first set out at 25-20.
The second set was a fight from start to finish. The Ducks were able to bounce back from their beatdown in set one, and took the lead just like our Hawks had previously done to them. Two kills gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead from the beginning, and they held on. The Hawks tried to take it back, with kills from Drake and Shaffer, but the set went to the Ducks. They finished with the score 20-25.
Going into the third set, the Hawks did not want to take defeat. The Ducks took a 6-1 lead off of some impressive kills from the very beginning, but it went downhill from there. The Hawks tried to close the gap but to no avail. Set three ended with a score of 25-15. The Hawks were able to keep a smaller gap in set four, almost matching the Ducks point for point, but they could not overcome the past two sets. They got very close, but lost the final set with a score of 25-21.
Overall, the Hawks played hard in their first double header of 2022. They were able to walk away with one win and one loss, and still hold more wins than losses for this season. Come out Saturday, Feb. 5 for the next double header right here in the Hawk Center!
