New York, NY – The top seeded Hawks blanked #3 Brooklyn College for their sixth consecutive CUNYAC Championship and the program's 26
th overall title earlier this evening. Hunter (15-7) cruised in straight sets with scores of 25-12, 25-19, 25-12, and with the victory, punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
The trio of
Kylie Hurst,
Isabelle Lawrence and
Mariam Ouattara combined for 31 of Hunter's 42 kills on the evening.
Justine Smith had the setting duties on the evening and registered 25 assists while chipping in with 10 digs.
The first set was all Hunter as they hit an astonishing .423 as a team. Their offense was firing on all cylinders and they found themselves up by 12 at 16-4. Brooklyn had no response to Hurst's six and the Hawk's 13 kills in the set. The Bulldogs would get no closer than 12 points as the hosts hurried their way to the 25-point mark to take the 1-0 lead.
In similar fashion,
Alyssa Broccoli's squad came out swinging from the get-go in the second. With two service aces from
Justine Smith, two kills and two Brooklyn errors, Hunter began with a 6-0 run and then held the six-point advantage at 9-3 before the challengers took a time out to regroup. The scrappy Bulldog team clawed their way back to within three at 18-15, but it's as close as they would get. Down the stretch, Hunter, with help from several Brooklyn errors, went ahead and secured their second set, 25-19.
In the third and final set, Hunter used an 3-1 run to out-distance themselves with a 13-point cushion at 16-3. Brooklyn would get no closer than to within 10 points and proved to have no answer for the offensive strength of Hunter. The Purple and Gold closed the books on their sixth straight championship with a 25-12 third set victory.
Hurst was named the Tournament MVP while teammates Lawrence and
Summer Magliochetti were named to the All-Tournament Team.
The Hawks will now wait to see who they will be matched up against in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is slated to begin on Monday, November 11 at 12:30pm and can be watch on www.NCAA.com.
