THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran men's volleyball team welcomed defending national champion and No. 2 ranked SUNY New Paltz into Gilbert Arena on Friday night but received a not so welcome 3-1 (25-17, 25-17, 15-25, 25-17) defeat at the hands of the Hawks.
In the first set, New Paltz set the tone with a 13 kills on 23 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .478 to dominate early on. The Hawks jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Patrick Rowe and Brendan Ward provided the first kills of the match for the Kingsmen to cut down the deficit. The Hawks extended their advantage later on with a 7-3 spurt to take a 17-9 lead and eventually clinched the first set 25-17. CLU struggled out of the gates and hit -.045 with six kills and seven errors on 22 attacks.
The Kingsmen started strong in the second set, led by Kelly Jew and Rowe, who provided back-to-back kills to open the frame. Nick Shoemate followed with a service ace to give CLU a quick 3-0 lead. The Hawks, however, would rally back and trade points with the Violet and Gold to knot the score at 10-10. From there, New Paltz went on a 10-2 run after Jake Roessler got going with three kills during the stretch. Justin Dietrich and Grant Nelson combined for a pair of kills in the late stages of the set but the lead was too large to overcome. The Hawks increased their hitting percentage to .550 in the set and took a 2-0 lead with another 25-17 set victory.
The Violet and Gold got off to another strong start in the third set, fueled by a Mason Mercer kill on the first play which was promptly followed with an ace from Mercer. Mikey Esper got into the action one play later and gave the Kingsmen a 5-1 lead with his first kill of the match. Kristian Gallardo was instrumental in the third set from behind the service line with a pair of aces to shift the momentum towards the Violet and Gold. With a 16-10 lead, the Kingsmen scored five unanswered points with Gallardo back to serve and capped off the run with a Gallardo kill. With a big lead, CLU was able to hold on for a set win against the defending champions. The Kingsmen hit a season-best .364 with five kills and just one error in the third while capitalizing on a handful of service errors from New Paltz.
After hitting just .115 in the third, the Hawks regrouped and matched their second set hitting percentage of .550 to put away the Kingsmen in the fourth and final set. CLU took the first two points of the set after a Shoemate service ace and held a 6-5 lead early on after Esper converted a trio of kills. The Hawks, however, rattled off nine straight points to take a 14-6 lead and held on for the set and match win.
Rowe led the way for CLU with seven kills while Esper added six and Mercer finished with five. Shoemate registered 20 assists on the night and Balkhi totaled five digs for the Violet and Gold. 10 different Kingsmen recorded a kill in the match. Gallardo paced the team with three service aces while Shoemate, Mercer and Alec Bennett added a pair apiece.
New Paltz (2-2) was led by a game-high 11 kills from Roessler and 10 kills from Anthony Bonilla. Matthew Grace produced a game-high 40 assists and Robert Nolan led the team with eight digs.
Cal Lutheran (0-3) continues its challenging schedule as it hits the road to take on Division I No. 14 Cal State Northridge on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:00 p.m.
Box Score: NP 3, CLU 1
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