Mahwah, NJ: The #13 ranked Roadrunner men’s volleyball team earned a 3-1 (30-23, 24-30, 30-23, 30-23) victory tonight over the #13 ranked Hawks of SUNY New Paltz (tied in the AVCA poll) to improve to 14-6 overall, 6-1 in the NECVA Metro Conference while New Paltz falls to 10-10 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
The two teams opened game one tied 3-3, before the Roadrunners went on a 5-0 run to jump ahead, 8-3. Rookie
Steve Vahalla (Bloomfield, NJ) sparked the run while an attacking error on the Hawks capped it off. On five separate occasions, New Paltz would come within three points, but the Roadrunners fired away the following point, wrapping up the game on a 5-1 run to earn a 1-0 game lead, 30-23. Ramapo hit a combined .200 with 12 kills on 25 attempts with seven errors while the Hawks put away 11 kills on 30 attempts with eight errors hitting .100 in the loss.
Josh Castillo (Garfield, NJ) and
Paul Konopacki (Monroe Twp., NJ) each recorded three kills in the game while
Matt Scott (Edison, NJ) dished out a team high 11 assists.
Edward Rossiter (Edison, NJ) led the team’s defense with three digs. Kevin Stross (Port Washington, NY) led the Hawk’s offensive attack with six kills and Andrew Cassius (Brooklyn, NY) assisted on ten kills. Cassius led the defense with three digs.
New Paltz evened out the match after game two taking the second set of the best-out-of-five match-up, 30-24. The Hawks biggest lead came at 27-20 when a kill from Mike Van Tyne (Rochester, NY) put the ball back in New Paltz’s hands. The Roadrunners came within four points, 23-27, with a kill from
Elvis Cabrera (Clifton, NJ), but the Hawks pushed to close out the game, 3-1, for the six point win. The Hawks went 17-39 with four errors hitting .333 over Ramapo’s 17-41 with 11 errors, .146. Stross led the way with four kills and Cassius recorded 14 assists while Mike Fink (Rochester, NY) picked up seven digs. Ramapo rookie
Kevin Froehlich (Ringwood, NJ) recorded a team high six kills and Castillo and Cabrera added five each. Scott chipped in 16 assists and Scott picked up four digs in the loss.
In game three, Konopacki, Castillo, and Vahalla each recorded four kills accounting for 12 of the team’s 17, leading the Roadrunners to a 30-23 win. Ramapo pushed to a 16-10 lead, before the Hawks chipped away coming within one point, 21-20, with a block from Stross and Jake Moore (Cortlandt Manor, NY). Ramapo held the Hawks to only three points taking the game by seven. Scott added 14 assists and
Kurt Backlund (Old Bridge, NJ) picked up four digs while the team hit a combined .452 on 31 hitting attempts. Daniel Liberto (Rush, NY) led the Hawks hitting .400 with five kills on ten attempts with only one error while the team went a combined 13-30 with six errors hitting .233. Cassius added 12 assists to the mix.
The Roadrunners took game four, 30-23, earning the match win, 3-1. Froehlich hit .700 in the game with eight kills on ten attempts and only one error while Castillo added five kills to the mix. Castillo hit .833 in that game while the team went 21-32 with three errors hitting .562 in the win. New Paltz went 16-34 with four errors hitting .353. The game remained close until 21-20 when the Roadrunners pulled away closing out the game, 9-3, for the seven-point win. Scott chipped in 19 assists and Backlund led the defense with four digs. Liberto led New Paltz with six kills.
On the night, Froehlich and Castillo led the way with 18 and 17 kills respectively while Scott finished assisting on 60 kills. Backlund led the team’s defense with 12 digs and Konopacki put away five total blocks. The team combined hitting .33 with 67 kills on 129 attempts while New Paltz went 57-133 with 22 errors hitting .263. Stross finished with a team high 15 kills and Liberto chipped in 14 of his own. Cassius recorded 50 assists and Fink led the defense with 11 kills.
The Roadrunners return to action on Saturday, March 6th when they travel to Polytechnic University for a noon match-up of the NECVA Metro Conference.