Volleyball looks to dig out of their losing ways in the weeks to come. Brian Izzo | The Informer
The University of Hartford Volleyball team lost in a three-set decision to the visiting Holy Cross Crusaders this past Tuesday night at the Reich Family Pavilion.
The Hawks, who are now 2-7 in overall play, were led by freshman Corinne Horanzy who finished with seven kills and eight digs.
Not too far behind Horanzy was sophomore Chandler Goodwin and senior Dionna Kirton who both finished the game with five kills.
Goodwin also completed the game with a .200 hitting average in 15 attempts, but accumulated two errors as well.
The Hawks and Crusaders went back and forth for the first eight points of the game,until Hartford picked up two more points and took and early lead of 6-4.
The points came off of junior setter Jackie Tamburri’s kill, while sophomore Alicia Tripoli then added the first ace of the set.
Holy Cross then returned the favor with three of their own points to take a one point lead, which eventually led to Hartford’s last lead of the first set of 10-9 with a kill by Horanzy.
Hartford started off the second match like they did in the first by scoring early and taking a 4-2 lead, with a kill from Kirton and blocks from senior Lindsay Anderson and Horanzy.
Then the Crusaders went on a 6-1 run to give the visitors a 10-6 lead with an ace from Kamele Shizuru and a kill from Katie McKernan and would not look back and take the second set with ease.
In the third set the Hawks started a tremendous comeback after being down 18-12 by scoring eight straight points to get a 20-18 point advantage.
But after a kill from Horanzy, the Crusaders would muster out six points to finish out Hartford and take the game and match victory.
Tamburri finished with a team best .500 hitting average without an error in six attacks and three kills.
The Hawks finished with 28 kills and 19 errors in 109 attempts. Kirton and Junior Sareeta Nethersole stole the show on defense finishing with 11 digs apiece.
Nine other players also had assists on the defensive end. Freshman Paola Llerandi and Horanzy both ended the match with nine and eight digs, respectively.
The Hawks will return to tournament play with a pair of games at the Art Carmichael Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island.
Hartford opens the two-day event with a Friday afternoon match against Texas-El Paso at 3 p.m. before taking on the host Rams on Saturday also at 3 p.m.