BOX SCORE
West Hartford, Conn. – The University of Hartford volleyball team opened up its league schedule on Saturday afternoon, dropping a five-set match (25-21, 25-27, 26-24, 17-25, 15-12) to the New Hampshire (2-15, 1-0 America East) Wildcats. Hartford falls to 9-8 overall in 2011, 0-1 in conference play. Junior Kami Nethersole led the Hawks with her third 20-plus kills match of the season.
Freshman setter Jackie Tamburri did a fantastic job of spreading the Hawks offense as four players finished with double figure kills led by Nethersole's 21 total. Sareeta Nethersole finished second for the Hawks with 16 kills, while Michelle Cordelladded 14 and Dionna Kirton contributed 13. As a team, Tamburri led the Hawks to a .239 hitting percentage with 75 total kills, 10 more than their opponents. In 180 total attacks, the Hawks finished with 32 errors.
Individually, Cordell led all hitters in the game with a 50-percent effort. Along with her 14 total kills, the senior middle hitter swung into just one error in 26 total attacks. Nethersole (Kami) finished just behind her with a .354 hitting effort with four total errors, to go along with her team-high 21 kills, in 48 total attacks. Tamburri finished with 63 total assists, three more than the Wildcats had total as a team. Her 63 assists matches her season high, which she set against Bryant in the second match of the year.
Defensively, the Hawks had a strong effort from four different players with senior defensive specialist Danielle Etta finished with a match-high 23 digs in her return to the Hawks lineup after suffering an injury in the first match of the season. Two freshmen, Tamburri and Nethersole (Sareeta) finished just behind Etta with 18 and 17 digs, respectively. Kami Nethersole rounded out the defensive leaders with 11 digs. As a team, the Hawks smothered eight total Wildcat attacks with sophomore Lindsay Anderson leading the way with six total, the most among both teams.
New Hampshire was led by Lauren Laquerre who finished with a match-high 22 kills and a .226 hitting percentage (8 errors, 62 total attacks). Joining her in hitting double figures for the visiting team was Amy Kedding with 15 and Morgan Thatcher with 14.
With the match decision hanging in the balance and the score tied at 12-12 in the fourth set, the Hawks hitters turned up a gear and scored 13 of the final 18 points to knot the match at two. Kirton and Nethersole (Sareeta) combined for six kills during that late run for the Hawks, extending the match into a deciding set.
In the fifth and final set, the Hawks took the first point before a Wildcat run led to a 5-1 lead for the visitors. After a 7-7 tie, the Hawks used the momentum of five-straight serves from Etta to take an 11-8 run and then a 12-9 lead before New Hampshire rattled off the final six points of the match to score the victory 15-12.
The Hawks don't return to action for seven days when travel to Providence for their first conference road match at Providence, the newest member of the America East in volleyball (joined for the 2010 season). The Hawks and Friars are scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start.
