BOX SCORE Hoboken, NJ - Hunter College women's volleyball went into five sets with Ramapo College on Friday afternoon, but eventually fell to the Roadrunners to end the 2016 season in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
On Friday the team looked to defeat the Roadrunners for the first time this season after previously falling to them on three occassions this year. The Hawks took it into five scores of 25-16, 25-12, 25-19, 25-15 and 15-6, but injuries would cost them the match.
Ramapo took the early lead in the first set, but Hunter got kills from
Julia Connolly,
Taylor Kerr-Haiduk and
Samantha Barrett to pull away 11-7. From there Hunter would score five-straight points 20-10 and eventually take the first set, 25-16.
The Roadrunners came back for revenge in the second set, jumping out to a 12-4 lead. The Hawks attempted to catch up but committed t0o many errors to fall 25-12 and tie the match 1-1.
The Purple and Gold capitalized on three immediate Ramapo errors in the third set to start the set 4-0, while kills from
Daphne Odeh and Barrett secured an even larger 9-2 lead for the Hawks.
The Roadrunners managed to stay in the match until Kerr-Haiduk went to work, recording four kills over the next five Hunter points to give the team a 20-14 edge. The Roadrunners committed too many  mistakes in the remaining points to give Hunter the 25-19 victory and lead the match, 2-1.
Ramapo took control early in the fourth set, immediately lengthening their lead to nine points. The Hawks were unable to get in a rhythm due to injuries and fell handidly in the fourth 25-15 to send it into a fifth set.
In the fifth the Roadrunners recorded kill after kill to lead 11-2 and then finish the Hawks off by capitalizing on Hunter errors. They won the set 15-6 to defeat Hunter 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA Championships.
Barrett led the team with a season-high 15 kills, while Connolly and Kerr-Haiduk follwed with 14 and 12, respectively.
Breanna Banske recorded a team-high 42 assists and
Haley Trunkett balanced the Hawks defensively with 24 digs. Kerr-Haiduk followed with 20 digs of her own in the loss.
The Hawks had a historic season, going 19-15 overall and going 10-0 in CUNYAC play to capture their third-straight conferene championship. The Purple and Gold never dropped a set in conference matches.
