The State University of New York New Paltz suffered two losses Saturday, falling in four sets to No. 16 Dominican University (Ill) and five sets to No. 3 California Lutheran.
They Hawks dropped the opening two sets, 25-23 and 25-22 against the Stars before forcing a fourth set on a 25-23 victory. SUNY New Paltz trailed by two at 20-18 in the third, but Nikko Tenedorio allowed his team to side-out following a kill off an assist by Daniel Shanley. Shanley went back to Tenedorio for another spike to tie the game at 20.
Dominican re-took the lead with a kill, but gave serve back to the Hawks after serving out, which ignited a 4-0 run for SUNY New Paltz that got it to set point, as Tenedorio served through the stretch, registering a kill and back-to-back aces to carry his team through the stretch. The Stars worked back to get within one, but a service error closed out the set with a win for SUNY New Paltz to extend the match to a fourth.
The Hawks looked to climb out of a 13-point deficit in the final stanza, trailing 23-10 as Dominican used a 10-0 run to create a comfortable cushion. A solo block by Artair Kayer ended the surge, but the Stars sealed the win with two straight points to take the set, 25-11 and the match, 3-1.
Tenedorio finished with a team-leading 11 kills, while adding four aces, three blocks, nine digs and two assists for 16.5 points. Geoff Ndoria followed with eight kills on 13 attempts, while totaling two assists and six digs. Shanley finished with a team-leading 20 assists and added nine digs.
SUNY New Paltz nearly upset the defending national champions in No. 3 Cal Lutheran. The Hawks got up 2-0 after winning the first two sets, 25-23, 25-22, respectively, but the Kingsmen came back to sweep the last three sets, 25-20, 25-23, 15-13 to earn the five-set victory.
The Hawks trailed by two at 17-15 in the first, but a kill by Matt Teplansky gave serve back to SUNY New Paltz where in turn scored the next six points with Peter Brutschin serving through the run. Shanley was the catalyst, registering two blocks and an assist with Brutschin adding an ace to help push SUNY New Paltz in front, 21-17.
The Hawks eventually earned set point following a kill by Krish Jain and an ace by Tenedrio, with Ndoria giving his team a 1-0 lead with a kill to close out the set.
SUNY New Paltz got up 23-19 in the second after a kill by Tenedorio on an assist from Shanley. Cal Lutheran scored three-straight to get within one, but the Hawks finished the period with consecutive kills by Tenedrio to go up 2-0 on the brink of their first win of the season.
After the Kingsmen forced a fourth, SUNY New Paltz had a chance to register a win, holding a 23-22 lead following another swing by Tenedorio. However, Cal Lutheran answered with three straight points to end the set. The Hawks helped them close out with two consecutive hitting errors to finalize the 25-23 score.
SUNY New Paltz held an 8-7 lead at the switch of the fifth and added on with a block by Teplansky. The Kingsmen took the lead at 10-9 before an attacking error tied the set at 10-all. Consecutive kills pushed Cal Lutheran ahead and the Hawks trailed from there. They got within one at 13-12 after another kill by Tenedorio, but the Kingsmen answered with a point on hard swing and finally after a Ndoria kill, ended the game on a kill of their own on the ensuing point to win the set, 15-13.
Tenedorio led the way with a career-high 21 kills on 42 attempts to hit .286 in the match, while adding nine digs, one block and an assist. Teplansky and Ndoria followed with 12 kills apiece. Teplansky also registered six blocks and nine digs. Shanley finished with a season-high 49 assists to facilitate the offense while adding three blocks and six digs.
SUNY New Paltz conclude its California trip Sunday, playing hosting No. 15 UC Santa Cruz at 8 p.m. eastern standard.
