New York, NY – Sophomore setter Zacarias Ripoll (Puerto Plata, D.R./John F. Kennedy) tallied 33 assists, nine kills and six digs en route to being named the Most Valuable Player of the 2008 CUNY Athletic Conference Championship Tournament in which his Hunter Hawks earned the program's 14th CUNYAC Tournament Championship by defeating the second-seeded Baruch College 3-0 (30-26, 30-25, 30-22) in a packed Hunter Sportsplex Thursday evening.

Hunter finishes the tournament without giving up an individual game and have now extended their win streak to 23 straight matches to improve to 30-3 overall. In addition to Ripoll being named the MVP, freshman outside hitter Pablo Oliveira (Brazil/Newcomers) and freshman outside hitter Wojciech Jakubiak (Poland/Grover Cleveland) were named to the All-Tournament team.

Oliveira, who led the team in kills in both matches today, finished the tournament averaging 12.0 kills in nine games of action. Jakubiak closed out the three match tournament with an average of 6.33 kills and 5.67 aces.

Tonight was the fourth consecutive year that Baruch and Hunter faced off in the CUNYAC Finals with Baruch coming out on the top the last two seasons. The first match was tight a majority of the way though, with each team trading points. Knotted up at 14 a piece, Hunter was able to rattle off three quick points to take a 17-14 lead and wouldn't trail the rest of the game on their way to a 30-25 win.

Baruch didn't let up in the second, taking the early 3-1 lead thanks to a couple of Hawk errors. After coming back to tie the game at 5-5, Hunter would take an 8-6 lead, their first of the game and much like the first, would never look back as they took the wind right out of the Bearcats sail with a 30-25 victory.

Hunter continued their onslaught in the third game, scoring the first six points unanswered. They would stretch the lead to 11-4 before Baruch showed some resilience and began to fight back. The two-time defending champs behind the prior year's MVP, junior right side hitter Danial Levent (Forest Hills, NY/American Studies), clawed their way back to close the gap to just one point, 15-14. That would be as close as they get however as Hunter once again pulled away and proved they were the better team today by taking a 30-22 win and defeating the Bearcats for the fourth time this year.

Oliveira finished the game with a match high 11 kills and five digs, while Jakubiak added nine kills and six digs. Freshman middle hitter Eryk Kowalski (Poland/Environmental Studies) closed out the tournament without recording a hitting error, had nine kills for a .582 hitting percentage against Baruch to go along with his .778 and .917 percentages against Lehman and Medgar Evers.

Early in the semifinal match against Lehman, senior middle hitter Ivan Michel went down with an ankle injury, but stepping up in his absence was junior middle hitter Shandu Foster (Long Island City, NY/Academy of American Studies) who provided a needed presence in the middle and also was able to get his offensive game going with seven kills against Baruch and seven against Lehman.

Levent finished the game nine kills, a team high for the Bearcats and was named to the All-Tournament team. Sophomore outside hitter Jonathan Tuwaiden (Woodside, NY /W.C. Bryant) also had a big night for Baruch with eight kills and ten digs.

Hunter will now prepare for the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) championship tournament which begins next Friday, April 4 at the Bill Bradley Sports and Recreation Center on the campus of Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ.