BOX SCORE
West Hartford, CT - The University of Hartford volleyball team remained undefeated at home with a five-game victory over the Sacred Heart Pioneers, in the second meeting between the two teams this season. Hartford won the second game 30-22, the fourth game 30-23 and the final game 15-12 with the Pioneers picking up victories in game one (28-30) and game three (27-30).
The Hawks opened the match impressive with a 12-3, forcing the Pioneers to regroup with a time out. Hartford had a total of four kills and two aces in the two opening runs of six and five points. The Pioneers pulled the lead to 15-11 with five-straight points, two of which came on kills from Tiffany Pheonix. The Hawks A pair of kills from Teri Connolly and Jennifer Monroy put the Hawks up 26-23 before the Pioneers tied things up at 27 on a Hawks error. A kill from Christine Duffy put things to rest in the first game with the Pioneers taking the early lead in the match.
The Hawks again started hot with a 7-2 lead on a seven point run during Connolly's serve. The run included a pair of aces and two kills for Monroy. The closest that the Pioneers would come was 16-10 on a Pheonix kill. Three straight service aces for Erin Macro gave the Hawks a 10 point advantage, 25-15. Macro would end the game with a pair of kills to tie the match at one game a piece.
Coming out of the longer break, the Hawks struggled, allowing the Pioneers to take an 11-2 lead. Hartford slowly chipped away at the lead, pulling within two, 16-17, on a Sarah Rasor tip over the net kill. The Hawks then tied the score at 23 and took a 24-23 lead on a kill from Ljiljana Zecevic. After a Hawks error tied the score at 27, the Pioneers rattled off the final three points.
The teams played back-and-forth for the 18 points of the forth game with the Hawks pulling away using small runs of three and four points. The biggest lead of the game came at 22-14, following a pair of attack errors for the Pioneers. Hartford then closed the book on the fourth game, forcing the deciding game with a kill from Macro.
The deciding game was back and forth throughout, until the Hawks scored the final four points of the game on a Macro kill, a pair of errors on Sacred Heart and a service ace for Monroy to end the match.
Monroy led the Hawks with 20 kills and 24 digs, completing her eighth double double of the season. Monroy also added three of the Hawks 15 total aces in the match. Macro and Connolly also finished with double digit kills, Macro with 16 and Connolly with 13. Five players finished with double digits in the digs column, led by Zecevic who finished with 22. Lauren Flores finished with 19 digs while Rasor added 15 and Sarah Boss added 10. Rasor broke her career-high with a total of 50 assists, while also adding six kills, taking part in a total of 56 of the Hawks 69 kills.
The Hawks will open America East conference play on Friday, when they host the UMBC Retrievers at 7:00 p.m. in the Intramural Gym at the Sports Center.
