Providence, R.I. - Hunter College men's volleyball closed out its first tournament of the 2018 season with a close five-set loss to Rivier College at the Wildcat Center. The Hawks posted scores of 25-27, 21-25, 25-21, 25-16 and 9-15.

The team starts the year with a 1-2 record after splitting their matches on Friday.

The Purple and Gold climbed back into the match after dropping the first two sets. The lead went back-and-forth in the third set with Hunter earning a two-point advantage with kills from Blake Hogan and Cyrus De Guzman to make the score 21-19. A service ace from Guzman and a kill from Qendrim Shala secured the victory with a score of 25-21.

Hunter capitalized on several Raider errors to start the fourth set up 6-5 before Rivier took a one-point lead. From there the Hawks went on a run, recording points from Shala and Matthew Zukowski to make the score 14-10.

The Hawks stretched the lead to 19-11 after scoring five-straight points, featuring two service aces from Zukowski. They finished off the Raiders in the remaining points, 25-16, to send the match into the fifth set.

Hunter started slow in the fifth as Rivier jumped out to a 5-1 lead. It was too late to catch up for the Hawks as they fell 15-9.

Zukowski led the team with 14 kills and just five errors for a .385 hitting percentage, while Hogan followed with 13 kills and Shala added 11. Joseph Muir led Hunter's defensive effort with 14 digs as Alec Helford tallied 47 assists.

The team returns to the court on Feb. 7 when they host Vassar College at 6 p.m.