Patchogue, NY – The men's volleyball suffered a 3-2 loss to the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's – Long Island on Saturday afternoon. The Hawks won the first and third sets but narrowly lost the fifth and final set by a score of 16-14. The loss moves the Hawks to 7-4 overall.
 
Christian Maisonet led all players with 18 kills and 18 digs while Qendrim Shala racked up 15 kills and 10 digs. Cyrus De Guzman did his part with 14 kills after hitting .393 and Blake Hogan added 13 kills and 17 digs in the loss. Alec Helford tied his career high with 62 assists as the setter. Chris Scandole tallied 16 digs while Sherrod Cole had five block assists.
 
As a team, Hunter tallied 10 more kills (66-56) than the hosts, posted a slightly better hitting percentage (.190 to .173) and registered six more digs (77-71). However, they committed six more errors and had 15 service errors which contributed to the loss.
 
In the first, each side did not let the other get out of striking distance which resulted in the game being tied multiple times in the latter stages of the set. The Hawks were the first to reach set point but the Golden Eagles scored two straight to turn the tables. Three straight host errors allowed Hunter to take the first set, 28-26.
 
In the second, the Purple and Gold fell behind early, 11-3, and were unable to recover as they fell 25-16. They regrouped and were up three late in the third and closed on a 7-4 run to make it a 2-1 affair. In the fourth, Hunter let go of a 13-11 upper hand and succumbed to a 7-1 STJ-LI run which they were ultimately unable to recover from, forcing a fifth and final set.
 
In an exciting fifth and final set, a kill from Shala knotted the score at 14 apiece. However, back-to-back kills from the Golden Eagles put a close on the match, serving the Hawks their fourth loss of the season.
 
Up next, Hunter will take part in a CUNYAC Tri-Match on Monday, February 17 hosted by York College. The Hawks will take on York at 10am and Medgar Evers at 12pm.