BOX SCORE
WEST HARTFORD, CONN. – The University of Hartford volleyball team dropped its second-straight home match, this time in three sets (16-25, 21-25, 13-25) to in-state rival Sacred Heart at the Reich Family Pavilion on Thursday night. With tonight's loss, the Hawks close out their non-conference schedule with a 5-12 overall record. The Hawks will next play on October 1 when they begin the 12-match conference schedule at New Hampshire.
Hartford's hitting suffered throughout the match with the Hawks leading hitter finishing with six kills, Kami Nethersole. Nethersole also finished with six kills to finish with a zero hitting percentage.
Finishing just behind Nethersole for Hartford was Michelle Cordell and Dionna Kirton who both finished with five kills. The two combined for just two errors to lead the team in hitting percentage. Cordell led all Hawks with a .364 hitting percentage with one error in 11 total attacks, while Kirton committed two errors in 14 total attacks for a .214 hitting percentage.
Joining Cordell on the top of the team leader board for hitting percentage was Sydney Scott who closed out the match with four kills and no errors in 11 total attacks. As a team, the Hawks finished the match hitting .188 with 25 kills and 10 errors in 80 total attacks.
The Pioneers finished with three players recording double figure kills with Dianis Mercado leading all players in the match with 14 total kills. As a team, the Pioneers hitting was tremendous, finishing with a .404 attack percentage, a season high for all Hawks opponents. Sacred Heart suffered just nine total errors in the match to go along with their 53 kills.
Two Pioneers players finished with hitting percentages better than 50 percent. Elise Sage and Ashlyn Trimble each hit .550 for the match. Trimble finished with no errors and 11 kills in 20 total attacks, while Sage suffered two errors in 20 total attacks to go along with 13 kills.
Defensively, all but two of the Hawks 10 players in the match finished with at least one dig. Leading all players was the starting libero Danielle Etta and Nethersole who each finished with six digs. Leading all players in the match defensively was Mercado who finished with 13 digs, which closed out her double double.
The Hawks will return to action on October 1, when they travel to New Hampshire for the 2010 conference opener. The match will be one of 12 conference matches for the Hawks, with the top four teams, based on winning percentage, following conference play advancing to the America East Championship. Hartford and New Hampshire are set to tip-off the conference calendar at 7:00 p.m.
