BOX SCORE
West Hartford, CT - The University of Hartford volleyball team dropped its first home match of the season with a three-game loss to the UMBC Retrievers in the America East opener for both teams. The Hawks drop to 7-6 overall and are now 0-1 in conference play, while UMBC improves to 7-8 overall and are now 1-0 in conference play.
Hartford and UMBC had the score tied seven times in the first 22 points in the game before the Retrievers took a 15-11 lead on a pair of aces from Jennifer Wylie. Hartford whittled into the lead with back to back three points runs to take a 19-18 lead on a kills from Ljiljana Zecevic and then extended it one more point on an error on UMBC. The Hawks then regained the lead and extended it to game point before the Retrievers took control and won the first battle with three-straight kills from Ashley Oscars.
UMBC regrouped for the second game and came out to take a 15-8 lead with an Oscars kill. Hartford would get as close as five, 21-16 on a Sarah Rasor kill. The Retrievers then scored eight of the final 10 points to take the 2-0 advantage in the match.
Following the long break the Hawks battled to an early 15-5 lead, the largest lead for either team all match. In the early run the Hawks had four kills and a service ace. The kills were provided by Rasor, Jennifer Monroy and two from Erin Macro. UMBC battled with three four-point runs and a six-point run to tie the score at 23 and eventually take a 28-24 lead on a kill from Sarah Ball. The Hawks rally fell short in the end with UMBC taking home its first win in conference play.
The Hawks were led by Monroy, who finished with 12 kills, the only Hawks with double digits in the kills column. Macro was the Hawks second leading hitter with eight kills and finished with a .300 attack percentage (8k, 2e, 20ta). Teri Connolly finished with five kills and led the Hawks hitters with a .400 attack percentage (4k, 1e, 13ta). Rasro continues to marshal the Hawks offense with 28 assists while Zecevic finished with 13 digs leading the home team. Lauren Flores also finished with double digit kills with 10. Oscars led all players Retrievers with 18 kills.
The Hawks will take to the road for their second conference match at Maine on Sunday afternoon, October 1, at 1:00 p.m.
