Men's Volleyball | 2/21/2020 11:07:00 AM

BOX SCORE New York, NY- The men's volleyball team suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Rutgers-Newark Scarlet Knights yesterday. The Hawks played the visitors tough all the way through losing the match 25-19, 23-25, 25-21 and 27-25. The loss puts Hunter at 9-5 on the season overall.
 
The Purple and Gold were led by Qendrim Shala with 13 kills and 8 digs. Blake Hogan chipped in 10 kills to go along with two service aces. Alec Helford led the team with 35 assists while Chris Scandole anchored the team defensively with 15 digs. The Hawks played extremely well at the net posting a season high 10 blocks.
 
The Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set thanks to a string of errors from the Scarlet Knights but the visitors quickly found their form going on a 10-2 run to take the lead at 10-6. Hunter pulled within one at 14-13 after back to back kills from Cyrus De Guzman and Hogan. Rutgers would answer with three straight points as Hunter could never get even taking the first set 25-19.
 
The second set was the lone set the Purple and Gold would take getting out to a four point lead at 10-6 after consecutive points on Klinger Ribeiro's serve. The Hawks held the lead the entire set until a three point run by the Scarlet Knights brought the game to a 23-23 tie. Shala came up huge for the Hawks with back to back kills allowing them to take the second 25-23.
 
The third set started out as a back and forth affair with the scored tied eight times before either team had reached 10 points. Rutgers used a 7-2 run in the middle of the set to build a five point lead at 17-12, which proved to be the key sequence in the set. The Hawks would battle all the way through as a huge kill by De Guzman made the score 24-21. A kill by Rutger's Robert Long would end the set at 25-21.
 
With their backs against the wall, the Purple and Gold played with a sense of urgency in the fourth, playing excellent defense and refusing to let the ball drop. Sharrod Cole provided a boost for the Hawks with two kills and a block early in the set. The two teams traded points as neither could put together a run of more than three consecutive points. The Hawks finally earned some separation after a 4-1 run put the score at 23-19 in favor of the home team. The Scarlet Knights would not go away though, scoring the next four to tie the set at 23-23. After a solo block from Christian Maisonet, the Hawks earned a set point, but failed to capitalize as Rutgers scored the next two points to earn a match point of their own. Shala answered with a kill to tie the game once again. Rutgers would win the next two points as a kill by outside hitter Arvind Kumar ended the set and match at 27-25.
 
The Hawks have a long break before returning to action on February 29^th when they travel to Poughkeepsie, New York to take on #5 Vassar and Nazareth in a weekend Tri-match.