WORCESTER, Mass. – The University of Hartford volleyball team (4-8 overall) broke a four-match skid with a 3-2 win over the Holy Cross Crusaders on Tuesday night in Worcester. Leading the Hawks was sophomore hitter Sareeta Nethersole who scored her eight double double of the season with 17 kills and 17 digs.

The Hawks had to work from behind in the beginning of the match, dropping the first set 25-22, before taking the next two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-19 switching the momentum in the visitors favor. The Crusaders forced a fifth and deciding set with a 26-24 final in the fourth, but the Hawks ran to victory in the final set with a 15-5 final.

Hartford finished the match hitting .130 as a team with 52 kills and 31 errors in 162 total attacks. Nethersole's 17 kills led all hitters in the match, while she was joined in double figures by junior Dionna Kirton who finished with 12. Sophomore Kathryn Gawrych chipped in a career-high eight kills, while setter Jackie Tamburri led the team with a .333 hitting average with four kills and one error in nine swings. Tamburri also finished with a double double adding 45 assists and 12 digs.

Nethersole's 17 digs also led the Hawks in that defensive category where she was joined with four other players with double digits. Joining her and Tamburri was Kirton (14), Saara Carissimi (13) and Kami Nethersole with 10. The Hawks also combined for 10 total blocks with junior Lindsay Anderson leading in that category with five. Tamburri and Gawrych added four blocks each, with Gawrych setting a career best.

The home team took an early 1-0 lead in the opening set on a kill from Liz Ashton and despite tie scores at one and two, the Hawks never took a lead. Holy Cross built its biggest lead to 14-8 on a five-point run that included three Hartford errors and a pair of kills for the Crusaders from Alicia Swearingen and Megan Lynch. The Crusaders largest lead of the match came at 22-15 following another kill from Swearingen, before the Hawks began to battle back with a pair of runs that led to a two-point deficit, 24-22, however a service error on the Hawks would close out the first set in favor of the home squad.

The Hawks again needed to battle from behind in the second set after the Crusaders opened with the first four points of the match. The second set only saw a pair of ties and a single lead change, which came on a late 10-1 run. Before that, Holy Cross built as much as a seven point lead at 19-12, before the Hawks answered with a six-point scamper that pulled the Hawks within one 19-18. That run saw a pair of aces from (Kami) Nethersole and three errors against the home team. A second run, this one equaling four points gave the Hawks their only lead change needed, coming on back-to-back service aces from Brooke Tallinger. A kill from Kirton secured the second set in favor of Hartford and tied the match at one.

The third set saw no ties or lead changes as the Hawks opened with the first three points and never looked back. Kills from Kirton and Gawrych helped the Hawks out to their early start. The visitors extended that lead early and quickly, building as much as a 17-9 advantage on a 7-1 run. That advantage came courtesy of a kill from Gawrych. The home team tried a late run that was cut short at three-straight before an error against the Crusaders gave Hartford a 2-1 match advantage.

Hartford opened the fourth set with the first two points and held that lead until late in the game. The biggest advantage for Hartford came at 22-14, made possible by a 9-1 scurry for the traveling team. The two runs, of four- and five-straight, saw three service aces, two from Carissimi and one from (Kami) Nethersole. Following a kill from (Sareeta) Nethersole that gave a 24-18 advantage, the home team kicked into gear and rattled off the final eight points to tie the match at two sets apiece.

The deciding set opened with the teams trading the first two points before runs of four and three opened the set in favor of Hartford 9-2 and the Hawks never looked back. Following an error against the Hawks that awarded the Crusaders their first point of the fifth set, the Hawks would only give up four more, opening as much as a 12-3 advantage. That was all made possible by the Hawks best hitting of the match as they suffered just two errors combined and finished with a .267 average.

The Hawks next action comes as its final in-season tournament when they travel to Buffalo for the Blue and White Classic. The two-day event begins with a Friday afternoon (4:30 p.m.) match against Syracuse, the third opponent from the Big East this season. Hartford will then play a pair of matches on Saturday against the host, Buffalo, at 12:00 p.m. and Dartmouth at 5:00 p.m.