Langhorne, PA - Hunter College men's volleyball went 1-1 in a tri-match on Saturday, defeating Cairn University and dropping a match to Juniata College.
The Hawks have an overall record 14-9 this season, maintaining an undefeated mark of 5-0 in conference play.
Hunter 3, Cairn 0
The Purple and Gold took down the Highlanders in three sets with scores of 25-23, 25-11 and 25-14.
Hunter trailed by as much as six points in the first set, but took control when they went on a 10-1 run to pull ahead. The Hawks found three kills, two service aces and two blocks over the 10-point streak as
Cyrus De Guzman got the deciding kills to give Hunter the first set.
The Purple and Gold dominated the second set, led by kills from De Guzman,
Blake Hogan,
Qendrim Shala,
Christian Maisonet and
Sherrod Cole to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Hawks finished off the Highlanders in the third by quickly getting a 12-5 advantage. They outscored Cairn 10-4 at the end of the set to win it, 25-14.
The Hawks recorded a hitting percentage of .244, holding the Highlanders to a negative mark of -.012.
De Guzman led the efforts by tallying nine kills and zero errors for a team-high hitting percentage of .692. Maisonet had a solid performance by registering seven kills and leading the team on defense with 10 digs.
Alec Helford found 27 assists in the victory.
Juniata 3, Hunter 0
Hunter fell to Juniata in the second match of the day, recording scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 28-26.
After dropping the first two sets, the Hawks stayed close to the Eagles in the third by tying the score five times early on. With the score tied at eight, Hunter scored five-straight points to get the lead. Juniata caught back up, but the Hawks tallied three-straight kills from De Guzman, Shala and Maisonet to stay in charge.
When the Purple and Gold were just one point away from victory the Eagles picked up the competition, scoring three points to take a 25-24 edge. A kill from Shala tied the score again, but the Eagles managed to outscore the Hawks 3-1 to get the 28-26 win.
De Guzman and Maisonet had nine kills each to lead the squad, while Hogan and Shala followed with eight kills apiece.
Chris Scandole tallied a team-high 12 digs and Shala chipped in 11. Helford continued to lead the team at setter, posting 34 assists.
The team returns to action on Tuesday, March 24 when they host Baruch College and celebrate Senior Night.
