THE LEAD:
The University of Hartford volleyball team was topped in a pair of matches at the Sacred Heart Hampton Inn Shelton Invitational, falling 3-0 to Brown in the first affair then being edged by host SHU 3-2 in the nightcap. Freshman Paulina Modestow totaled 27 kills and 26 digs on the day for the Hawks.

KALLICK'S TAKE:
"We definitely rebounded well from the first match of the day," head coach Mitch Kallick said. "I was proud of how the team played – it really showed what we are capable of as a team and a program as well as how resilient of a squad we are. The best thing is the girls are beginning to gain and grow confidence. They are beginning to believe how successful they can be."

MATCH 1 – BROWN 3, HARTFORD 0
Set 1: Brown 25, Hartford 17
Set 2: Brown 25, Hartford 15
Set 3: Brown 25, Hartford 14
RECORDS: Hartford (0-5), Brown (1-0)
LOCATION: Pitt Center (Fairfield, Conn.)

RECAP:  Modestow notched a career-best 18 digs and matched her career best with nine kills, but Brown posted a 3-0 victory over the Hawks in the opening match of the Invitational. Sabrina Stillwell led the way for the Bears, notching 11 kills, while Payton Smith added nine kills and hit .529 in the victory.

SET ONE:
The Hawks notched the first two points of the match, but Brown bounced right back with five straight points with Shannon Frost at the serve to take a 5-2 lead. The two squads went back and forth over the next several points, with Hartford trimming the deficit to 13-11. But a Hawks service error gave the momentum back to the Bears and they used it to their advantage, pulling off seven straight points to push the lead to 20-11. The Hawks rallied to cut the deficit to 22-17 thanks in part to kills from Modestow and Alyse Wenzel, but Stillwell finished off the first with three straight kills.

SET TWO:
The Bears carried over the momentum from the first set, opening up a 10-3 lead in the second on the strength of three kills from Stillwell. The Hawks were able to slowly whittle away at the Bears lead, with an Asha Wafer kill and a Kathryn Gawrych block making the score 14-10. Again, though, Brown put together a run and extended the lead to 18-10, forcing a Hartford timeout. The Bears pushed the lead to 22-11 before the Hawks were able to roll off four points of their own, cutting the lead to 22-15 and forcing a Bears timeout. But Brown was able to rally for the final three points of the set and a 25-15 win.

SET THREE:
The third set saw the teams trade points early to a 5-4 Brown lead, before the Bears ran off three straight points to push the edge to 8-4. From there the teams went back-and-forth, with a Modestow kill cutting the deficit to 11-8. Brown delivered another run, tallying four straight points on kills, and eventually added to its lead to a 20-12 score. The Hawks were able to cut the deficit to 22-14, but Brown finished off the match with three straight points for a 25-14 win.

MATCH 2 – SACRED HEART 3, HARTFORD 2
Set 1: Sacred Heart 25, Hartford 14
Set 2: Hartford 30, Sacred Heart 28
Set 3: Sacred Heart 25, Hartford 18
Set 4: Hartford 25, Sacred Heart 20
Set 5: Sacred Heart 15, Hartford 11
RECORDS: Hartford (0-6), Sacred Heart (2-2)
LOCATION: Pitt Center (Fairfield, Conn.)

RECAP: Modestow doubled her previous career high, posting a team-leading 18 kills and adding nine digs as Hartford fell in a tense, five-set affair to Sacred Heart. Paola Llerandi added a season-best 18 digs and Gawrych posted nine kills and a season-best nine blocks in the loss. Sarah Krufka led four players in double digits with 22 kills for the Pioneers.

SET ONE:
The two teams started even early in the set, with the Pioneers taking an early 7-5 lead and extending it to 10-7. Sacred Heart then went on a rally, outscoring the Hawks 13-5 to push the lead to 23-12. SHU was able to carry that over for a 25-14 win in the opening set, hitting an impressive .591 in the process.

SET TWO:
In the second, Sacred Heart got out to another strong start, opening up a 13-7 lead and trading points to an 18-12 advantage. But a Modestow kill gave the serve to Llerandi, and the Hawks were able to run off four straight points to cut the lead to 18-16. The Pioneers were able to rebound, pushing the lead to 23-18, but the Hawks stiffened, and ran off three straight points to make it 23-21. SHU pushed it to set point at 24-21, but Hartford got consecutive kills from Modestow and a pair of errors to take a 25-24 lead. The two teams battled back and forth to 28-all, then the Hawks saw kills from Katy Henchy and Gawrych give them the set 30-28 and knot the match 1-1.

SET THREE:
Sacred Heart got out to a 6-3 lead early in the third, but kills by Henchy and Rachel Moll and a block from Moll and Gawrych knotted the score at six apiece. But the Pioneers bounced back with a trio of kills in scoring six of the next seven points and earning a 12-7 edge. The Hawks were able to get it within three at 15-12, but Sacred Heart responded with three straight points and carried that over to the end of the set for a 25-18 win.

SET FOUR:
The fourth set started as a back-and-forth affair, with the Hawks holding a slight early edge, 7-5. But Sacred Heart came through with five consecutive points to gain a 10-7 advantage. A service error gave the serve back to the Hawks, and two Modestow kills and two blocks were part of a six-point rally that put the Hawks ahead 13-10. After the teams traded points to a 15-12 score, the Pioneers came right back with three in a row to knot things up at 15. With the score tied at 16, Henchy and Modestow delivered back-to-back kills, and the Hawks carried over that momentum all the way to the final point, en route to a 25-20 win.

SET FIVE:
The fifth and final set was another tenuous affair, with the teams trading blows to an 8-8 score. The Hawks netted back-to-back points on a Moll block and a Brianna Pacileo ace to garner a 10-8 edge and force a SHU timeout. The timeout changed the momentum, though, and the Pioneers scored seven of the last eight points of the match to take the set 15-11 and the match 3-2.

UP NEXT:
Hartford will take on Bucknell in its final game of the Sacred Heart Hampton Inn Shelton Invitational on Saturday. Match time is slated for 11 a.m.