New York, NY – The men's volleyball team played host to the violets of NYU earlier this evening in a non-conference matchup. Despite taking the first set 25-23, the Hawks were on the other side of 25-18, 25-16 and 25-23 scores, falling to the Violets three sets to one.
Chris Maisonet led the Hawks with 11 kills while both
Blake Hogan and Quendrim Shala chipped in with eight each.
Alec Helford posted 34 assists while
Chris Scandole tallied nine digs. As a team, they had three solo blocks and six block assists and managed just a .107 hitting percentage.
The Hawks (12-6) led from the get-go in the first when Shala started things off with a kill for his team. NYU (9-7) hung around and remained within striking distance, never falling behind by more than three points until a 6-2 Hunter run set the score at 17-12. NYU crawled back to within one at 23-22, but a service error by the Violet's Brandon Duggan followed by a Maisonet kill put an end to the first set, 25-22.
The second set was a different story. The Hawks gave up a 14-2 run which included 10 unanswered points which were fueled by six Violet kills. With the scoreboard reading 19-9, a kill from Cyrus de Guzman sparked a Hunter run that featured three kills from Maisonet to bring the game to 24-18. However, NYU closed the door with a James Haag kill, ending the second by a score of 25-18.
In the third, each team played each other evenly through the first four points but an 8-3 Violet run set the Hawks back by six. The Purple and Gold's six attack errors and seven service errors did them a disservice which resulted in a 25-16 set loss, setting them down 2-1.
Trading points early on in the fourth, the game was knotted at six apiece. Three Hawk attack errors, coupled with a service error allowed for five unanswered NYU points to make it a 15-9 affair. A big kill followed by a block, both from de Guzman brought Hunter to within one at 19-18. A Maisonet kill made it even at 22-22 but NYU pulled away to take the fourth set and the match, 25-23.
The Hawks return to action on Saturday, March 16 when they host a tri-match with Stevens Institute of Technology and St. Joseph's College of Long Island. Hunter will play Stevens in the first game at noon while St. Joseph's and Stevens have the second game at 2pm. The Purple and Gold have the final game against St. Jos's at 4pm.
