NEW YORK, NY – In the battle of two conference leaders, the Hunter College women's volleyball team defeated St. Joseph's College-Long Island in three sets to increase their current winning streak to six.

The CUNY Athletic Conference leading Hawks outlasted the Skyline Conference leading Golden Eagles in a hard-fought match in which each set was decided by just a two-point margin of victory. Hunter won the opener 25-23, after trailing most of the set. In the second set, Christine Luebcke landed six kills in the 26-24 victory. Paulina Jobczyk and Lucia Stosic each connected on four kills and Luebcke added three more to win the finale, 27-25. Luebcke led the Hawks with 12 kills, Jobczyk added 11, and Stosic added eight kills on .438 hitting.

St. Joseph's took control from the very first serve of the match, racing out to a 6-1 lead. The five-point margin would be the largest of the first set as Kim Hirten took over the serve and delivered an ace inside a four-point rally. A Katina Boutis service ace tied the set up at 11, but the Hawks trailed through the teens until a Jobczyk kill put Jaclyn Hadfield behind the service line with the Golden Eagles leading 20-19. Hunter nabbed three-straight points after two St. Joseph's attack errors and a unassisted kill by Stosic from the middle of the net to grab their first lead of the set 22-20. But two-straight Golden Eagle kills tied the match, until Jobcyzk slammed a kill of her own to put the Hawks up by one. Boutis followed with another ace and a block by Stosic and Jobcyzk closed out the first set in favor of Hunter.

In the second set, St. Joseph's grabbed an early 4-1 lead. Luebcke stopped the run with a kill. Hirten once again drilled an ace followed by a Hadfield kill for the first of 15 ties in the set. Neither side could gain a lead larger than two points for the rest of the match as the teams battled to a 24-24 tie. Boutis fed Hadfield then dished to Luebcke to end the match with back-to-back kills, giving the Hawks a two-set advantage.

Hunter took the early lead in the finale as a block by Boutis and Hadfield put the Hawks up 8-3. But the Golden Eagles closed that lead to two, only to see Luebcke lead a six-point rally that included an ace. Hunter could not capitalize as St. Joseph's rallied back to tie the set at 20. A kill by Luebcke and a block by Hadfield and Jobczyk gave the Hawks a two-point lead, but St. Joseph's came right back with two points of their own. Jobczyk landed a kill on a pass by Mia Alexis De Claro, but two more Golden Eagles points found the Hawks staring down the losing end of set point. Jobczyk and De Claro once again teamed up for a kill to tie the match at 25 and after a St. Joseph's attack error Stosic provided another put back from the middle of the net to seal the victory.

click here for the match results and statistics

Hunter (14-6, 7-0 CUNYAC) heads across the Hudson River to Jersey City this Saturday to face New Jersey City University and Delaware Valley College in a non-conference tri-match beginning at 10:00am.