BOX SCORE

HOBOKEN, NJ – The Hunter Hawks women's volleyball team lost Friday afternoon to #15 Clarkson University in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Golden Knights defeated the Hawks in three sets by the scores of, 25-17, 25-19, 25-23.
 
"This was an accomplishment to make it this far," said head coach Val Lang. "We worked hard to build a team and this was a great experience to see what it was all about."
 
The Hawks opened up the first set not backing down from the nationally ranked Golden Knights as they used their strong attacking play at the net to put the Golden Knight defense on their heels and forcing them into mistakes. The Hawks opened up an 11-7 lead in the first set forcing a Clarkson timeout. Both teams battled but the Golden Knights combination of strong serves and attacking play led them on an 18-6 run to close out the set 25-17.
 
The second set opened up as a back and forth affair as the teams were trading kills and with the score 7-6 Hawks, the Golden Knights went on a mini 5-0 run forcing the Hawks into a timeout. After the timeout the Hawks responded with a block by Julia Connolly and Lucia Stosic, later Karolina Gajda's kills would make the score 13-9 and back-to-back aces by Jessyka Quisquino made the score 13-9. The Hawks used their serving and blocking to force Clarkson into attack errors to tie the score at 17. Clarkson would close out the set 25-19 thanks to four kills from their front line.
 
"We played as a team and that is the most important thing," said senior Taylor Kordich. "We tried touching every ball and worked hard."
 
The Hawks controlled the third set early, as they once again jumped out to an early lead forcing the Golden Knights into calling a timeout. Gajda, Stosic, Connolly and Taylor Kordich would all record kills to help propel the Hawks to the early lead. Unlike in the first set the Hawks continued to play aggressive and used their serves to control play as well as using their blocking to force the Golden Knights into attack errors. With the score 17-10 Hunter, Clarkson rattled off six straight points to cut the lead to 17-16 and from that point on, neither team would have a lead larger than two points.  The Golden Knights would close out the Hawks scoring six of the next seven points via kills to win the set 25-23 and secure the three set victory.
 
"We had a good plan going in and we enjoyed playing it," said Lang. "Our blocking and our serving worked better for us and we can leave here knowing that we played our best and left it all out there."
 
Karolina Gajda's team-high seven kills led the Hawks; she also recorded five digs and hit .278%. Julia Connolly and Lucia Stosic each had six kills and Connolly also had two block assists while Stosic had three. Setter Kristine Ciurcina had 21 assists while Jessyka Quisquino led the team with three aces.
 
The Hawks finish the 2014 season with a 24-16 record, while Clarkson will move on to the semifinals where they will face Tufts University on Saturday afternoon.