HAMBURG, N.Y.  – The Hilbert College men's volleyball program honored Marcus Wloch and Matthew Domagala this afternoon prior to the AMCC tri-match hosted in the Hafner Recreation Center. 

These two student-athletes were competing for the last time in the Hafner before graduation so the program and their families celebrated their contributions in a brief pre-match ceremony.

The Hawks then battled a pair of hot-hitting opponents, suffering two AMCC defeats while Hiram outlasted Penn State Altoona in the middle match which went to five sets.

THE BASICS

• Final Scores  PS Altoona  25, 25, 25   |   Hilbert  9, 17, 13
• Final Score    Hiram 25, 25, 25  |  Hilbert    17, 17, 20  
• Location:  Hafner Recreation Center |Hamburg, NY
• Records:   Lions 13-8, 10-3 AMCC  |  Hawks 2-22, 1-13 AMCC | Hiram 16-11 , 9-4 AMCC

GAME NOTES

• Brad Converse averaged 3.67 kills per set hitting at a .308 clip with only six attack errors in 52 attempts.  The rookie led with 22 kills over six sets.  Ryan Levcik earned a team-best 14 digs (2.33 d/s) and matched Dylan Suter's success at the net with nine kills for the day.
• Senior Marcus Wloch averaged 2.0 digs per set, keeping rallies alive with 12 digs while adding seven kills with only three hitting errors.

HOW IT HAPPENED – Penn State Altoona

• The Lions attacked the Hawks early.  They consistently sent their hits to the back of Hilbert's court for open kills as they earned a 25-9 first set win.
• Altoona built an 11-2 lead before Converse earned the Hawks second point of the set. Austin Chandler poked back-to-back aces and Wloch put down a kill as Hilbert sliced into the lead, 11-6. Both teams traded 3-point runs before the Lions five-point swing gave them a 21-12 lead.  Converse tossed two more kills as the Lions won, 25-17.
• Suter and Converse gave the Hawks two of their four points, but they trailed 10-5 before Levcik posted another point for Hilbert.  Chandler's service ace pulled Hilbert within four points (16-12) yet that was a close as they'd get.  The Lions strung together six straight points to secure the 25-13 match win off a service ace.

HOW IT HAPPENED – Hiram

• Hiram, coming off a tough and exhausting 5-set match win over Penn State Altoona in the middle match, appeared a step slower and a swing weaker.  Hilbert took a 4-3 lead off a Chandler service ace but that turned out to be the Hawks only lead in the first set.  The Terriers slowly crept away after trading serves, then went on mini-runs which built a 19-13 spread. Wloch's kill set the 24-17 score before Hilbert gave the set away off a service error.
• Set two was at the same pace as the earlier one against the Terriers.  Teams traded points, serve, and kills through an 8-8 score. That's when Hiram created enough space to pull out the win, going up 12-8. They maintained spread and extended it 23-15 before the final 25-17 win.
• Hilbert jumped out to a 6-3 advantage, the Terriers responded with four of five earned points to build a two-point lead, and then rolled to the 25-120 win.

UP NEXT

Hilbert will close the 2022 season next weekend when they travel to central Pennsylvania for another AMCC tri-match, this time at Mount Aloysius College April 2.  The Hawks will battle the Mounties at 12 noon and then complete their schedule against Thiel College at 2:30pm