BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2

NEW YORK, NY - The Hunter men's volleyball team split their two matches on Wednesday evening, sweeping Medgar Evers College and then dropping a tough five set match to Vassar College. The Hawks now sit at 11-8 on the season but remain undefeated in CUNYAC play with an 8-0 record.

Hunter 3 Medgar Evers 0

The Hawks took control of the first set immediately as they opened up a 12-2 lead on the Cougars. During the opening onslaught, the Hawks took advantage of attack errors as well as getting great attacks from Steven Tarquinio, Ben Crusinberry and Brandon Kohler. The Hawks maintained their advantage at the net as the Hawks attack proved to strong for the Cougars. Tarquinio and Austen Rerick nailed back-to-back kills to close out the 25-10 set victory.

In the second set the Hawks once again controlled the set early on jumping out to a 14-4 lead forcing a Cougars timeout. Once again strong contributions from the Hawks attack led to their advantage. Crusinberry, Kohler, Tarquinio and Benjamin Cassidy all contributed kills during the Hawks opening run. After the timeout Kohler would smash home a kill to continue the momentum for the Hawks. With the Score 20-7, Gary Anderson Jr would serve to close out the set for the Hawks and the freshman was outstanding as he had three aces, including two to close out the 25-7 second set victory.

The Cougars started the third set staying close to the Hawks but with the score 7-4, that is when the Hawks would go on a tear to distance themselves. The Hawks would score 18 of the next 23 points to close out the Cougars 25-9 to earn the sweep.

Kohler led the Hawks attack with nine kills, while hitting .727%. The sophomore would also tally three aces, one solo block and a block assist. Crusinberry would add seven kills and Matthew Zukowski had a great all around game with four kills, three aces, two block assists and four digs.


Vassar 3 Hunter 2

The first set was close throughout, as neither team was able to take control of the set. The Brewers went ,on a three point run to take a 10-8 lead but the Hawks would respond with two straight points to make the score 11-10. The Hawks continued to trail and seemed to be on the brink of a loss, but with the score 19-17 Vassar, the Hawks would score eight of the next nine points to take a 25-20 first set victory.

The Hawks would start the second set falling behind 7-3, forcing a timeout by Hunter. When play resumed, the Brewers continued to hold a lead as they would combine strong serving and strong net play. The Hawks would get no closer than five points the rest of the set as the Brewers would win the set 25-19.

The Brewers once again began the set strong as they would open up a 14-8 lead, forcing a Hawk timeout. After the timeout the Hawks weren't able to respond as the Brewers would grow their lead to 19-10 before closing out the Hawks 25-17.

The fourth set was close throughout but ,with the score tied at nine, the Brewers went on a four point run to take a 13-9 lead forcing a Hawks timeout. After play resumed, the Hawks would cut into the lead eventually tying the score at 16. The Hawks would take an 18-16 lead after a block by Cassidy and Kohler, forcing a Vassar timeout. Kohler and Crusinberry would hit back-to-back kills to make the score 20-17. The Hawks would close out the fourth set victory with three kills by Tarquinio to give the Hawks a 25-23 victory.

The fifth set started out close but the Hawks seemed to take control after rattling off four straight points turning a 5-4 deficit to an 8-5 lead. After the teams switched sides, the Brewers would ramp up their attack as it would prove to strong for the Hawks as they won the set 15-12.

Tarquinio led the Hawks attack totaling 18 kills, with a .527 hitting percentage. Crusinberry added 10 kills while Kohler added nine. Anderson Jr would dish out 45 assists and Colin Horn tallied 16 digs.

The Hawks return to action on Saturday March 7 when they will participate in a CUNYAC Multi-Match at York College. The Hawks will play Brooklyn College at 9am and College of Staten Island at 1pm.