BRSTOL, R.I. - The Hawks traveled to Rhode Island to take on Conference of New England (CNE) opponent Roger Williams University on Saturday in a match originally slated for 1:00PM, however due to a miscommunication with officials, the match would not start until 2:30PM. The Hawks of Roger Williams would come out on top, 3-1 (23-25, 25-20,19-25, 15-25). The Hawks of Hartford fall to 10-8 overall and 2-3 in CNE play.
Rapid Recap:
- Hartford jumped on the Roger Williams early in set one, as Junior Rylee Miller (Sunriver, Ore.) powered a 5-0 run with three straight kills for a 6-2 lead, and an ace from freshman Amara Rhodes (Merced, Calif.) helped stretch it to 15-11. Roger Williams fought back to tie the set at 16, 20 and 22. Freshman Calla McCombs (Bloomfield, N.Y.) put the Hawks up 22-21, but Roger Williams answered with a 3-1 push, and a kill by Peyton Felix closed the 25-23 set for Roger Williams.
- The Hawks answered in set two. The teams were tied at 18 when Hartford ripped off a 7-2 run to close it out. McCombs delivered four kills in that stretch, Rhodes and senior Jordan Murphy (East Hampton, Conn.) kept the offense balanced. McCombs sealed the 25-20 win with a service ace to even the match at one set apiece.
- Set three got away from Hartford early, as Roger Williams opened with a 12-0 run behind six aces from Samantha Devino and three kills from Felix to take a 12-1 lead. The Hawks fought back late with a 5-0 run, with two aces from Rhodes pulling them within 19-23, but Roger Williams edged out the 25-19 win.
- Roger Williams carried that momentum into set four, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and holding Hartford off the rest of the way. Roger Williams hit .552 in the frame with no attack errors and led by as many as 11 points before closing out a 25-15 win and the match.
Inside the Numbers:
- McCombs led the Hawks with 15 kills, while Ry. Miller added 13 kills and a team-high 12 digs. Jo. Murphy chipped in 11 kills while hitting .611 with no errors, and added three blocks. Rhodes finished with a double-double of 38 assists and 10 digs, adding three aces. Freshman Belen Butler (San Diego, Calif.) had nine digs.
- Roger Williams outhit Hartford .262 to .177 and held a 12-6 advantage in aces. The Hawks had 25 attack errors to Roger Williams' 16.
- Felix led all players with 19 kills.
- Both teams finished with 56 digs, and Hartford edged Roger Williams 4-3 in total blocks.
Post Game Press:
"We had to be quite creative in our approach to be ready for the game today because of outside influence. I'm proud of how we battled at times, but we're learning that we can't pick and chose those times. Unfortunately it wasn't consistent enough today. With all the misfortune we experienced this weekend, we learned to face adversity and take lessons from it." Head Coach
Johan Dulfer said post game.
Up Next:
The Hawks return to Chase Arena Saturday Oct. 10th to take on CNE opponent University of New England at 2:00PM.
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