University of Hartford

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Hartford Women's Volleyball hosted a tri-match on Saturday between themselves, Fitchburg State, and Connecticut College. The Hawks would win their first match against Fitchburg State in straight sets (25-16, 25-10, 25-16) . The Hawks hosted Connecticut College for the third match of the tri-match on Saturday. The Hawks would win their second match of the day in five sets (25-19, 11-25, 17-25, 25-17, 15-7).

Fitchburg State Rapid Recap:

• After giving up the first two points of the set, Hartford would score five straight to put them ahead 5-2. They would build off this momentum to garner an even larger advantage, going up 12-4 ,with kills coming from senior Jordan Murphy (East Hampton, Conn.) and senior Jenna Murphy (East Hampton, Conn.), as well as a pair of service aces from freshman Calla McCombs (Bloomfield, N.Y.). Hartford would expand on their lead making it 15-6 when Fitchburg would go on a run of their own, scoring seven straight to make it a 15-13 game. Hartford would pull away towards the end of the set, with kills from McCombs and junior Rylee Miller (Sunriver, Ore.) and three straight service aces from McCombs. As the Hawks would take the first set 25-16.

• The Hawks would come out firing in the second set, scoring the opening five points with a pair of kills coming from Jo. Murphy. McCombs and Je. Murphy would continue to dominate on the front line, as the Hawks lead grew to 12-3. With a comfortable lead, Hartford would remain with their foot on the gas, as they would round out the set with another pair of kills for McCombs, and another for Je. Murphy, as the Hawks would win the second set 25-10.

• Fitchburg would get out to a 6-3 lead to start the third set. The Hawks would tie things up at 10 a piece with kills from McCombs, Miller, and Jo. Murphy. Hartford would score six straight making it 16-11. The Hawks would continue to pull away in the final set, with kills coming from McCombs and Jo. Murphy. Hartford would win the final set 25-16 and subsequently the match in three sets.

Inside the Numbers:

• Jo. Murphy would finish with five kills, to go along with four solo blocks, and two assists blocked. McCombs would end with 16 kills, two assists, six service aces, and six digs. Jo. Murphy finished with eight kills, one assist, with a block assist, and two digs. 

• Hawks finished with 39 kills on 70 total attacks resulting in a .457 attack percentage. 

• Hartford would finish with seven total blocks.

Connecticut College Rapid Recap:

• The Hawks would get off to a hot start going on a 4-1 run to start the first set with a pair of kills from McCombs. Hartford would continue to build on their initial run increasing their lead to 11-4 with a kill from Jo. Murphy. Hartford would keep momentum as the score would run up to 18-11 in favor of the Hawks, and eventually they would take the first set 25-19.

• Hartford would begin the set, on their heels as Conn. College would come out with an 8-2 advantage. The Camels would continue to pile on the scoring building a 15-4 lead, which would turn into a 25-11 victory for Conn. College. 

• The Camels got off to a hot start, taking a 7-3 lead in the early goings, with a pair of kills coming from sophomore Camille Earl (Houston, Texas). Hartford would make their way back into the game to make it 7-6. Conn. College would pull away increasing their lead to 17-11. The Hawks would again claw back into the match with kills from Earl, Miller, Jo. Murphy, and McCombs, making it 18-16. The Camels would go on to win the set 25-17. 

• The Hawks would start the fourth set with a 8-3 advantage with kills from McCombs, and Earl. Conn. College would come back into the game to shrink the lead to 9-7. The Hawks would find some momentum growing into a 20-13 advantage. The Hawks would go on to take the fourth set, forcing a fifth set, 25-17.

• In the fifth and final set, both teams would trade blows back and forth as McCombs would continue to rack up the kills. With the score deadlocked at five a piece the Hawks would score seven straight to give them a 12-5 advantage. Earl, and Miller would secure a pair of kills, and a service ace from Earl would seal the deal for Hartford as they would win the match in the fifth set 15-7. 

Inside the Numbers:

• McCombs would finish the game with 19 kills, with six service aces, and 11 digs. Miller would finish with 14 kills, four aces, and six digs. Earl would finish the game nine kills, an assist, and an ace as well as 1.0 total blocks. 

• Conn. College would finish with 48 kills to Hartford's 47.

• Both teams would end up with 47 assists. 

Post Match Press:

"We've been talking about this new era with this new program, sometimes it can be difficult to win with a new crowd. But we're just clicking together and figuring out our flow and it just feels awesome." Ry. Miller said.

"Building a championship program requires resilience and persistence", said head coach Johan Dulfer. "Today we saw a little glimpse of both. We fought really hard in the first set, and then after getting pushed back hard by a really good team we dug deep and found it within ourselves to step up the level of our play and togetherness. Nights like tonight will prove very valuable in the building of our program for years to come. I am very proud of the girls for accomplishing this in our own gym."

Up Next:
The Hawks will take on New Paltz on Sep. 15th at 6:00PM in the Chase Arena.

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