BEVERLY, Mass. - The Hartford volleyball team concluded their 2026 season on Tuesday night falling to Endicott College in the Conference of New England (CNE) Tournament First Round dropping by a 3-1 (25-17, 25-16, 22-25, 25-15).
Rapid Recap:
- The Gulls would storm ahead 14-2 in the first set. The lead would extend to 18-4 before the Hawks would get a 5-2 run highlighted by two kills for junior Rylee Miller (Sunriver, Ore.). Endicott College would hold the lead the rest of the way with Hartford making a late run, but dropping the first set 25-17.
- The teams traded points in the second set with the Gulls slowly building a 14-6 advantage. Junior Andrea Martir-Perez (Bristol, Conn.) would get a kill as Hartford tried to get back into the contest. The lead got to within 18-12, but the Gulls closed on a 7-4 run to win the second set 25-16.
- Hartford would jump ahead 7-5 in the third set behind three service aces for the visitors. The Hawks would continue to slowly build the lead as a kill by freshman Calla McCombs (Bloomfield, N.Y.) pushed the lead to 17-13. The Gulls would come all the way back to even the score at 21-21, but Hartford closed strong with two kills going to senior Jordan Murphy (East Hampton, Conn.) as the Hawks closed it in.
- The fourth set had Endicott College leading 7-5 early after a block by R. Miller and Jo. Murphy, but the Gulls would slowly build the lead to 17-10. Sophomore Lauren Johnson (Fort Collins, Colo.) and R. Miller would each get kills, but the Gulls would take the set winning by a 25-15 margin.
Post Match Press:
"I thought Endicott's experience in playoff situations showed today", said head coach
Johan Dulfer. "We struggled finding a rhythm on serve receive all night. When you pass worse than your opponent serves and serve worse than they pass, you typically don't like the outcome of matches. It was really good to see that despite our struggles in passing, we found a way to put a lot of pressure on Endicott in the third and portions of the fourth set by sheer determination and hard work. Tonight's experience will come back and prove very valuable as we build our program. We end our season with double the wins from last year and our first playoff appearance - the future is bright for sure."
Inside the Numbers:
- McCombs led the team with 10 kills on the night on a .094 hitting percentage with seven digs. R. Miller tallied six kills with 1.5 blocks and a dig. Jo. Murphy had four kills with a pair of blocks.
- Freshman Amara Rhodes (Merced, Calif.) led the passing effort with 21 assists, nine digs and two kills. Martir-Perez also had nine digs in the loss.
- Ava Grace Dresback led the Gulls with 11 kills, eight digs and five aces. Lincoln Abramaitys added 10 kills, 12 digs and five aces.
Up Next:
This concludes the Hartford Volleyball season with a overall record of 14-13 with a 5-5 CNE record.
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