West Hartford, CT - The University of Hartford volleyball team picked up its fifth-straight victory with a five-game rally over the Marist College Red Foxes on Tuesday night. The Hawks saw victories in the first game (30-24), third game (38-36) and the rubber game (15-13). Marist tied the match with a 30-26 win in the fourth game and again with a 30-18 win in the fourth game. The Hawks are now 5-5 overall, while Marist falls to 4-8 overall.
The Hawks were led by Jennifer Monroy and Erin Macro who each finished with 15 kills. Katie O'Hara added 12 and Hallie Fullagar finished with 11 to round out the leading hitters. Freshman setter Lindsay Ford continued to captain the Hawks offense tying her season high with 50 assists.
Defensively the Hawks were led by Monroy who finished with 17 digs, one of three players to record a double double. Ford (13) and Fullagar (12) each finished with double digit digs for double doubles. Rounding out the leading defenders was Lauren Flores who finished with 12 digs. Every player that saw time on the court finished with at least one dig. The Hawks also added 11 aces, led by Monroy and Macro, each adding three.
The Hawks took control in the first match scoring seven of the first eight points, two of which came on back-to-back service aces from Macro. The Hawks extended their lead to nine, 18-9, on three-straight errors for the Red Foxes. Marist fought back to pull within three, 24-21, before back-to-back kills from Monroy closed out the first game. Monroy and Macro each compiled four kills in the first game to lead the team.
After two ties in the first 10 points, the Red Foxes took an 8-5 lead, one they would never look back from. Marist extended its lead to 17-12 on two Hawks errors and two aces from Allie Burke. A seven-point rally for Marist gave them a 10-point advantage (27-17) with the Hawks using rallies of three and four to pull within three until a kill from Alexandra Schultze closed out the game. O'Hara and Macro each had three kills to lead the Hawks in game two.
Following the intermission, the teams came out to play 14 extra points before the Hawks scored the victory and the one-game advantage on a Sarah Rasor service ace. The third game featured 20 ties and eight lead changes, with neither team leading by more than two. Fullagar led the Hawks in third game with six kills, followed by Monroy with five. O'Hara finished the game with a .429 attack percentage (four kills, one error, seven total attacks.
After the Hawks scored the first point of the fourth game on a service ace from Monroy, the Red Foxes took control of the game runs of three and four. The Red Foxes led by as much as 11 on more than one occasion. The Hawks were led by Monroy, Maddison Molyneux and Macro with two kills each.
Marist opened the fifth game with a 4-1 lead, before the Hawks battled to take a 7-5 advantage by kills from Ford, Macro and Fullagar all in a row. The red Foxes battled to tie the score at nine, 10, and 13 before the Hawks won the match on a service error from Marist and a kill from Macro.
The volleyball team will next play at the George Washington Invitational against Howard on Friday the 14th of September at 5:00 p.m.
