THE BASICS:

RESULT: UNH 3, Hartford 0
SET 1: UNH 25, Hartford 12
SET 2: UNH 25, Hartford 12
SET 3: UNH 25, Hartford 7
RECORDS: Hartford (0-15, 0-1 America East); New Hampshire (9-7, 1-0)
LOCATION: Lundholm Gymnasium (Durham, N.H.)

THE LEAD: The University of Hartford volleyball team was topped by defending America East New Hampshire, 3-0 on Friday in the conference opener for both teams. The Wildcats had four different players tally at least four kills, led by Demi Muses' seven. Paulina Modestow topped the Hawks with three kills in the loss.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET ONE:
New Hampshire started out the first with a 5-2 lead, and at that juncture the Hawks saw setter Astrid Mangual go down to an injury. But the Hawks showed their resilience, battling back to a 5-4 score, and traded points to an 8-7 UNH lead after an Erinn Lavelle service ace. The Wildcats rebounded, though, running off the next five points to build a 13-7 advantage. A Modestow kill and a UNH attack error got it back to 13-9, but that was as close as the Hawks would get, with UNH posting a 25-12 victory.

SET TWO:
Again in the second, the Hawks stayed tight with the Wildcats, battling to a 5-4 score. For every UNH statement early in the frame, Hartford delivered an answer, with kills by Brianna Pacileo and Asha Wafer each cutting the deficit to just two. But UNH put forth a rally, turning a 9-7 lead into an 18-8 advantage to break the game open and take the second for a 2-0 lead heading into the break.

SET THREE:
UNH came out blazing in the third and final set, opening a 14-3 lead on the strength of a strong attack and carried the momentum over to the victory. UNH hit a solid .214 in the third to finish off the win, with Gabri Olhava posting three kills and two block in the frame.

UP NEXT:
The Hawks will return to conference action next weekend with a pair of road matches. On Friday, Hartford will take on Binghamton at 7 p.m. followed by a Sunday afternoon contest at Albany at 2 p.m.