ROCHESTER, N.Y.  – Ryan Ratajczak became Hilbert College's career Dig leader today after his 16 dig-performance in the Hawks 3-1 loss in the first game of the day against Thiel College.  Later in the afternoon, he added six more tallies to his total against Juniata (8-1) to notch 626 career digs which pushed him past '12 grad, Dan Wolfe for the top rung in the ladder. 

The Hawks went 0-4 over the weekend at the Golden Flyers Invitational Tournament hosted by Nazareth College.  Hilbert faced three of the six AVCA Top 15 ranked teams in Division III men's volleyball and still were competitive at times.  Adam Weaver notched his 1,000 career kill by the conclusion of the first day and freshman setter Adam Heftka moved into 5th place in the Hawks career assist category after counting his 57 assists today (87 assists for the weekend). 

Hilbert started the day with a 29-27 set victory over Thiel College (3-2).  They then suffered three straight losses (25-19, 25-12, 25-21). Thiel finished with nine more kills with better attack percentage (.262 vs .108) than the Hawks.  Hilbert earned eight service aces but committed 13 service errors.

Ryan Ratajczak was credited with 16 digs and one assist while Adam Heftka had 32 assists off Hilbert's 120 attempts.  Adam Weaver added 20 kills with support from Korey Schwab (6) and Ryan Tofil (5) who also added three solo blocks for the Hawks.  David Mellerski chipped in eight digs while Weaver also had seven digs and three service aces.

To end the day, Hilbert finished the tourney with their best hitting percentage (.224) against #3, Juniata, the highest ranked team they faced.  The Eagles had 39 kills and an impressive 14 service aces.  To their discredit, they also were whistled for 14 service errors.  Hilbert earned 26 kills and 11 digs.

Weaver reached double-figures again in a three-set match finishing with 10 kills.  Korey Schwab added seven kills and matched Weaver's hitting percentage (.286).  Heftka assisted 25 times directing a few passes to Mellerski (3 kills), Duncan (3) and Tofil (2).

Hilbert (3-8) will used this week to prepare for the United Volleyball Conference's cross-over weekend hosted by MIT (Boston, MA) February 8 and 9.  The Hawks will battle 9th ranked New York University and 11th ranked Stevens Institute of Technology Saturday before the square-off against Bard College Sunday.