New York, NY – The men's volleyball team had their home opener earlier this evening at the Sportsplex and hosted the Panthers of SUNY Purchase in a non-conference contest. The Hawks won in dominating fashion, racing to a three-set victory, 25-7, 25-16, 25-21 and advancing to 3-0 on the season thus far.
 
Christian Maisonet led the way offensively with 14 kills on a .571 hitting percentage while Qendrim Shala complimented him with 10 kills. Alec Helford had the setting duties on the evening and registered 34 assists while also getting it done on the defensive end, leading the Hawks with six digs.
 
As a team, the Purple and Gold tallied 38 kills, 11 service aces, 10 block assists and 28 digs while hitting .319. All of those team statistics were better than their challengers.
 
In the first set, 21 of the Hawk's 25 points were unanswered. They used a run of six straight points early on in which Sherrod Cole accounted for half of them with three consecutive service aces. Mid-set, they tacked on another seven unanswered points to make it a 17-5 affair, and closed with eight straight points which was capped with a Shala kill.
 
There were 12 lead changes in the early stages of the second but a kill from Jben Mui sparked a 5-0 Hunter run to give his team a six point advantage. The Hawks closed on a 6-2 run to go up 2-0.
 
Purchase hung around in the third and lead all the way up to 15-14, and even found themselves tied with Hunter at 16 apiece. However, two kills from Shala and a service ace from Hunter Moran gave the Hawks the offensive boost they needed to power down the home stretch. On a feed from Helford, Maisonet hammered home the final kill of the match to put a close on their 3-0 victory.
 
The Hawks will have their hands full on Sunday, February 2^nd when they compete in a tri-match hosted my Stevens University. They take on #3 ranked Stevens at 11am followed by Brooklyn College at 1pm.