BOX SCORE
West Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford (0-1) volleyball team opened the Hartford Hawks Volleyball Invitational in impressive format with a 3-0 win over Providence College in the early match. The Sacred Heart Pioneers topped Holy Cross by a 3-0 score to close out the first night of action.
Providence kept it close throughout the entire match, never letting the Hawks pull ahead by more than six points. In the first game, Hartford opened on a 3-0 run on a kill from senior Teri Connolly (Casa Grande, Ariz.) and Jennifer Monroy (Rahway, N.J.). The biggest lead of the game for Hartford came at 18-12 on a Connolly kill. The Friars pulled it close in the final minutes with a kill by Jess Storer (Wantagh, N.Y.), to make it 28-26. The teams then traded points for the final four points with the Hawks winning the first game on a miscue by the Friars.
After Hartford pulled ahead 14-9, on a Ljiljana Zecevic (Zemun Beograd, Serbia) service ace, in the second game the Pioneers used runs of four and three points to take a 23-22 lead, their first of the match. The run included two services aces, one each for Kelly Krahenbuhl (Larkspur, Colo.) and Sara Sheehan (West Chester, PA.).
The Pioneers controlled the lead through a majority of the final game, with the Hawks chipping away using mini runs of two and three points to force the match into extra points. Neither team could connect on its game-point attempt until the Hawks used a kill from freshman Erin Macro (Lincoln, R.I.) to put the final touch on the team's first win of the season.
Hartford was led by Monroy, who finished with 17 kills. Connolly led all hitters in the game with 11 kills and no errors, finishing the match with a .423 attack percentage. Junior Sarah Rasor (Tampa, Fla.) led all players in the game with 32 aces while four Hawks finished with double digit digs. Freshman Sarah Boss (Fremont, N.H.) led the team in that category with 18. Monroy added 10, Zecevic 16 and Lauren Flores (Richmond, Texas) had 10.
The Pioneers finished with eight players recording at least one kill, allowing Sacred Heart to win its season opener. Tiffany Phoenix (Cresskill, N.J.) led Sacred Heart with six kills and no errors, finishing with a .400 attack percentage. Christine Strawson (Torrington, Conn.) led the Crusaders with 10 kills.
Tomorrow's action will begin at 11:00 a.m. when Holy Cross meets Providence. The Hawks will play at 1:30 when they host Sacred Heart and then again at 7:00 p.m. in the final match of the tournament against Holy Cross.
