KEUKA PARK, N.Y. – Hilbert Women's Volleyball went 1-1 on day two of the Keuka College Invitational. The Hawks opened the morning with a 3-1 win over MCLA before they slipped in a tightly played 3-2 loss against Pitt-Bradford.
Match One vs MCLA (15-25, 25-10, 26-24, 25-11)
The Hawks showed depth, resilience, and sharp execution after a shaky start in Set 1 to come back and take the 3-1 win in the program's first meeting against Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MA).
Set One: After playing an even set through a 12-10 score, the Trailblazers stacked 10 consecutive points together to pull away in a 25-15 win.
Set Two: Hilbert outscored MCLA 25-10 with a blistering .294 hitting percentage while holding the Trailblazers to just 3 kills and a -0.227 efficiency.
Michaela Rice and
Jenna Revak set the tone offensively, while Hilbert's defense forced MCLA into mistake after mistake.
Set Three: The pivotal third set was a back-and-forth battle that saw Hilbert pull away late with timely kills from
Molly McKinnon and clutch setting from
Lindsay Madigan. The Hawks edged out a tight 26-24 win, swinging momentum completely in their favor.
Set Four: With the match in their grasp, Hilbert slammed the door with a resounding 25-11 finish in Set 4. The Hawks hit a red-hot .367 in the frame and overwhelmed MCLA at the net and from the service line.
Stat Leaders – Hilbert
Match Two vs Pitt-Bradford (23-25, 25-14, 28-26, 21-25, 14-16)
Hilbert put together a gutsy, all-around performance in its second match of the day, taking previously unbeaten Pitt.-Bradford to five sets before falling just short in a back-and-forth thriller.
Hilbert responded to a narrow first-set loss by dominating the second behind steady offense and aggressive serving. The Hawks then held off multiple set points in the third to edge out a 28-26 win and grab the match lead. Despite a strong defensive effort and a late push in the fifth, Pitt.-Bradford escaped with the narrow win.
Stat Leaders – Hilbert
McKinnon paced the Hawks with 9 kills and 20 digs, while
Michaela Rice added 8 kills, 4 aces, and 2 blocks.
McKenna Rice chipped in 7 kills and 3 blocks at the net.
Setters Jonathan (20 assists) and Madigan (13 assists, 3 aces) kept the offense flowing throughout the match.
Defensively, Hilbert was led by Schiller, who recorded a match-high 25 digs, with Revak and McKinnon adding 20 each. Balen led at the net with 4 blocks, helping the Hawks challenge Pitt.-Bradford point-for-point across all five sets.
Despite being edged in overall kills and assists, Hilbert out-served its opponent with 12 aces and stayed competitive throughout.
The Hawks (3-1) have a few days off before they host their Home Opener Tuesday, September 2nd against Houghton University (7 PM) in the Hafner Recreation Center.
