THE BASICS:

RESULT: Hartford 3, UMass Lowell 0
SET 1: Hartford 25, UML 21
SET 2: Hartford 25, UML 18
SET 3: Hartford 25, UML 21
RECORDS: Hartford (2-24, 1-9 America East); UML (4-23, 1-9)
LOCATION: Costello Athletic Center (Lowell, Mass.)

THE LEAD: 
Paulina Modestow led the way with 13 kills as the Hartford volleyball team swept UMass Lowell on Sunday. The Hawks hit .279 in the match to post another strong offensive contest for their second-straight victory. Astrid Mangual dished out 27 assists and posted eight digs in the win for Hartford.

KALLICK'S TAKE: 
"It has been more than amazing watching this team jell and mature over the course of the season," head coach Mitch Kallick said. "The girls are beginning to see the results they rightly deserve for all the hard work they have put in. Their constant determination to achieve the best they can is inspiring. We are playing our best volleyball of the year right now, and that is exactly what you want to be doing in November."

SET ONE:
UMass Lowell started strong out of the gate, building an early 6-2 lead, before Hartford came back with three straight – two on kills by Asha Wafer – to cut the deficit to 6-5. From there, the battle was a back-and-forth one for the majority of the remainder of the set, with eight tie scores until the teams were knotted at 18. Rachel Moll got the Hawks rolling with a kill and then and ace, before a Mangual block made it 21-18. The River Hawks battled back to 22-21 before Hartford rolled off the last four points to take the first 25-21.

SET TWO:
The two teams came out even in the second, with UML building a 7-6 lead early on. The Hawks then took control, using kills by Katy Henchy and Modestow, a block by Henchy and Kathryn Gawrych, two aces for Mangual, and a handful of River Hawk miscues to run off 10-straight points for a 16-7 advantage. UML battled back, cutting the deficit to 21-15, but the Hawks were able to stem the tide and finish it off with a Modestow kill to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

SET THREE:
Hartford grabbed control early in the third, with a pair of Henchy kills playing a strong role in the visitors building an 8-3 lead out of the gates. After the teams traded points to 9-5, Hartford came through with four straight, including a Gawrych block, a Moll ace and a Modestow kill to make it a 13-5 lead. After Hartford pushed it to 17-9 with a pair of Modestow aces, UML came back to cut it to 17-13 and force a Hawks timeout. Hartford rallied to make it 21-15, but the River Hawks put together one more rally, notching five straight to cut the deficit to just 21-20. Modestow responded at that point, though, rolling off kills on three of the Hawks' final four points to take the set, 25-21.
 
UP NEXT: 
The Hawks hit the road for a pair of weekend matches, traveling to UMBC for a Friday night matchup at 7 p.m. and a Sunday afternoon clash with Stony Brook at 1 p.m.