HAMBURG, N.Y . – The Hilbert College men's volleyball team split their games today for the first time in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference action this season and claimed their first league win.

The Hawks earned a five-set victory over Mount Aloysius - their first AMCC win in 30 tries - before they closed the day with a straight set loss to Geneva.

THE BASICS

• Final Scores  Hilbert  25, 20, 25, 21, 15   |   Mt Aloysius  16, 25, 19, 25, 13
• Final Score:  Geneva 25, 25, 25   |  Hilbert 9, 18, 17
• Location:  Hafner Recreation Center | Hamburg, NY
• Records:   Mounties 3-14, 0-8 AMCC  |  Hawks 2-14, 1-7 AMCC  |  Golden Tornados  12-10, 7-1 AMCC

HIGHLIGHTS ON THE DAY

• Ryan Levcik and Brad Converse led the Hawks attack as they both finished the day with 20+ kills.  Levcik led with 2.88 kills per set (23 kills) and Converse followed with 2.62 kps (21 k) but led the team with six service aces.
• Nick Diello closed the day with a .400 attack percent after earning 10 kills, two errors in 20 attempts.
• Austin Chandler chipped in five kills, led the Hawks with 17 digs and 47 assists (5.88 aps) and added five service aces.
• Luis Retamar and Converse had matching 15's in digs as Levcik finished with 12 for the day.
• Dylan Suter was credited with five blocks, all assisted, as the Hawks closed the day with eight blocks total.

HOW IT HAPPENED – MOUNT ALOYSIUS

• The Hawks trailed briefly, 3-2, after giving the Mounties back-to-back points.  Hilbert then built a 13-6 advantage, built it to 22-14 and traded points to the 25-16 victory.
• The Mounties jumped out early in the second set, taking a 7-4 hold, which they extended to 11-6.  Hilbert got as close as three points, on multiple occasions (22-19 and 23-20) but Mount Aloysius earned the 25-20 win off a pair of Hilbert hitting errors.
• There were five lead changes before the game reached 8-8 in the third set.  Hilbert stretched their lead to 12-9, and 21-13 then outlasted the Mounties come-back efforts and won the game off a Levcik service ace (25-19).
• The Mounties were in control early, manufacturing an 8-2 advantage.  The Hawks clawed their way back into a 18-all score and then went up 19-18 off a Converse kill.  MAC held a two-point lead but the Hawks knotted the game again at 21-all.  Three Hilbert attacking errors combined with a Mountie kill forced the fifth set game.
• Hilbert trailed only once in the shorten-fifth set.  They held a 9-7 lead, Mount Aloysius called a timeout, and then put three points on the visitor's side of the score board (10-9).  The Hawks strung two-points together (12-10) and then traded side outs with the Mounties until the 15-13 final set/match score.

GAME NOTES MOUNT ALOYSIUS

• Hilbert finished the match with 54 kills (.150), 72 points, 12 service aces, six blocks, 46 assists and 57 digs.
• Brad Converse led the Hawks with nine kills, Austin Chandler finished with 13 assists, Ryan Levcik and Luis Retamar led with five digs and Nick Diello earned two solo blocks in the three set match.
• Mount Aloysius earned 43 kills (.171), 57 points, five service aces, nine blocks, 34 assists and 44 digs.
• MAC had two players reach double digit kills, led by Andrew Wlodarczyk and Solomon Vance-Ingua was credited with seven blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED - GENEVA

• The Hawks hung around the opening set, keeping it a one side-out game through the first 10 serves.  Geneva went on multiple runs and pulled away quickly building a 14-6 lead, then a 20-9 margin before they earned all five of the final points, 25-9.
• The Hawks held a 6-5 advantage after a two-point run.  They knotted the score again 7-7 and 9-9 before falling behind by as many as five points.  Hilbert pulled themselves back into the game and knotted the score 17-17 which forced Geneva to reenter their starters.  The Golden Tornados escaped with a 25-18 second set victory.
• Hilbert took an early lead in the third set before they slipped in a 6-0 run and fell behind 9-5.  The Hawks inched closer only getting within three points before Geneva put the game out of reach at 21-13.

GAME NOTES GENEVA

• Hilbert finished match with 18 kills (.025), 26 points, six service aces, two blocks, 16 assists and 22 digs.
• Levcik led  with eight kills, Diello led with .222 percent (3/1/9), Suter earned two blocks and Chandler (6 digs, 11 assists) and Converse shared game-high honors with three aces each.
• Geneva earned 37 kills (.451), 51 points, 10  service aces, four  blocks, 32 assists and 27 digs.

UP NEXT

The Hawks will travel next weekend to Elmira, N.Y. for three matches.  Hilbert faces Elmira College Friday, March 11 and then returns the next day to face Rutgers, Newark (1pm) and Bard College (3pm) in Speidel Gym.