The University of Hartford women’s volleyball team was at another invitational this weekend, the CCSU Invite, along with a game at Bryant University.

The women still face some troubles as they were not successful at either event as they still look for their first win of the season.

In the first game of the week, the Hawks traveled to Rhode Island to face off against the Bryant Bulldogs on Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The Bulldogs were able to best the Hawks in straight sets to take the match.

In the first set, Bryant topped the Hawks 25-15. The Bulldogs got out to a strong lead at 7-2. The Hawks were able to cut the lead to 11-9. Bryant pushed the lead out to 17-13 and never looked back from there. They were able to close out the set easily after posting three more points to stretch the lead to 20-13.

The second set was a different story.

While the Hawks were not able to pull out the win in the set, the score was much closer at 25-22. This set was a game of streaks. Bryant jumped out to an early 5-2 lead. The Hawks rallied back to take a 7-6 lead. Bryant then put up five of their own. This kept going until the Hawks were able to cut the lead to 21-20. At this point Bryant took a time out, and that’s all they needed as they rallied to finish the set.

In the third set, the two teams came out even, starting the set at 4-3 in favor of the Hawks. The Bulldogs quickly jumped out to an 8-4 lead which the Hawks were able to cut back down to 10-9. However, Bryant was able to jump back out to a 16-10 lead over the Hawks. From there Bryant was able to close out the set strongly with a 25-14 victory.

Pushing forward to the CCSU Invite, the Hawks had another chance to score their first win.

On Friday, the Hawks had their first game against CCSU.

The Hawks lost the match, unfortunately, 3-0.

The Hawks were topped in the first set 25-19, the closest of the three sets. The next two that followed ended in similar fashion, 25-16 and 25-15.

Sophomore Katy Henchy posted 11 kills in the match. Astrid Mangual helped with 22 assists and Shay Worley had 10 digs.

In the second game of the weekend, the Hawks faced off against Holy Cross. Unfortunately, the Hawks were once again bested in the match 3-1.

The first set of the match was close at 25-21, but the Hawks weren’t able to close it out. In the next set, the Hawks were able to push it a little farther but still fell 27-25. In the third set, the Hawks were finally able to find a footing and won 25-20.

However, Holy Cross bounced right back winning the final set 26-24.

Henchy had 15 kills along with 33 assists from Mangual and 15 digs from Paola Llerandi.

In the final game of the invite, the Hawks played against Brown.

The Hawks were once again beaten in straight sets. The match was completely dominated by Brown, the first set ended at 25-16. The second set was abysmal for the Hawks, as they were beaten 25-8. In the final set of the invite, the Hawks lost 25-13, ending the invite winless.

Mangual posted another good performance with 18 assists and Paulina Modestow with 12 digs.

The Hawks move on to New Hampshire this Friday, Sept. 25, still looking for that first win of the season.

Hopefully they will come out on top. They work too hard not to be able to get that win, and unfortunately it has been a hard struggle all season long.

Though they have been struggling the volleyball team still shows heart and determination every game they have.