New York, NY- The men's volleyball team matched up with the violets of NYU in last night's non-conference matchup. Despite taking the second set 25-22, the Hawks were on the other side of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-22 scores, falling to the Violets three sets to one.
 
Chris Maisonet led the Hawks with 11 kills while Qendrim Shala chipped in with 10 kills. Blake Hogan added 8 kills to go along with four digs. Alec Helford posted 35 assists for the match. As a team, Hunter had three service aces and five total blocks and managed a respectable .260 hitting percentage.
 
The Hawks (4-2) fell behind from the get-go in the first with NYU (6-0) getting out to a 4-1 advantage. Hunter hung around and remained within striking distance, tying the game at 7-7 on a Hogan service run. A 7-2 NYU run set the score at 14-9. Hunter would never get closer than four points as a string of missed serves doomed the Hawks comeback chances. A kill by NYU ended the first set at the score of 25-20.
 
The second set was a different story. The Hawks cleaned up their serving and hit an excellent .290 on 13 kills. Hunter managed a 14-10 early on in the set after getting a point on David Lou's service ace. The Hawks were very efficient with their side out game in the set never allowing NYU to score more than two points in a row. NYU managed to tie the game at 17-17 but the Hawks responded with a 5-2 run that included two kills from senior Cyrus De Guzman. Maisonet would put down the final kill to give Hunter the set 25-22 while tying the match at 1-1
 
In the third, NYU jumped out to a commanding 11-2 lead as Hunter struggled to pass some tough NYU serves. After the slow start the Purple and Gold's played much better posting a hitting percentage of .368. This would not be enough though as NYU hit a commanding .632 in the set to win by a score of 25-17 putting them up 2-1.
 
Trading points for much of the fourth set, the game was knotted at 14 a piece. Three Hawk points in a row, including an ace by Klinger Ribeiro, put Hunter up 17-15 looking primed to push the match to a fifth set. The Violets found an answer to the Purple and Gold right away though with a 7-1 run to take the lead 22-18. The Hawks would make a late push closing the gap to 24-22 but a block by NYU sealed the set and the match at 25-22.
 
The Hawks return to action on Saturday, February 8th when they attend a tri-match in Glenside, PA to face host Arcadia University and Rosemont College. Hunter will play Arcadia in the first game at 1pm followed by their matchup with Rosemont at 3pm.