The State University of New York New Paltz lost in straight sets to No. 15 nationally ranked UC Santa Cruz Sunday (25-19, 25-22, 25-17).
The hosting Banana Slugs held the advantage in nearly every statistical category, including points (52-41), kills (41-36), aces (6-1), blocks (5-4), assists (40-30), digs (36-30) and hitting percentage (.326-.256).
Nikko Tenedorio led the Hawks offensively with 13 kills, two blocks and five digs for 14 points. He was followed by Geoff Ndoria and Matt Teplansky who finished with eight and six digs, respectively. Daniel Shanley facilitated the offense and recorded a team-leading 29 assists to go along with three kills, a block and five digs.
UC Santa Cruz created a six-point cushion in the first, going up 22-16 following a serving error and a bad set by Tenedorio and Shanley, but SUNY New Paltz responded as Shanley fed Teplansky for a kill, before Ndoria found open court with a swing on a free ball to get the Hawks back within four.
The two teams traded points, but SUNY New Paltz’s rally stalled as the Banana Slugs scored the last two points to earn a 1-0 lead.
The Hawks led early in the second as they took a 13-7 advantage following points on kills by Tenedorio and Krish Jain. The two teamed up for a double block to aid in the 3-0 run.
SUNY New Paltz led for the majority of the set with Teplansky giving them a 21-20 cushion with a kill, but UC Santa Cruz came back to take its first lead of the period since the opening points following a serving error and a block to go up, 22-21. An attacking error tied the match at 22, but the hosts closed out with three-straight points, finalized with a block on Tenedorio to own a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Hawks never led in the third and the Banana Slugs held match point at 24-17 following a kill and finalized the win on the next point with a kill to claim the 3-0 sweep.
SUNY New Paltz (0-5 overall) comes back east, and resumes play Saturday against SUNY Poly and Houghton in Utica, NY at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.
