#8 Vassar Survives Hawks Attack

NEW PALTZ, NY- The fourth set between the Vassar College Brewers and the New Paltz Hawks was one of the most exciting sets in volleyball. With the Hawks down 2-1 and on the verge of being defeated, the Hawks battled back from 14-10 deficit to tie the game at 18-18. The Brewers would get a little breathing room as they scored three straight to take a 21-18 advantage, but the Hawks fought back led by Jake Moore who finished with 13 kills in the set. When the Hawks tied the game at 27-27, the teams would trade point for point. Both the Brewers and Hawks would come within one point of losing the set, but would hold the other team off from taking the set. The Hawks were able to tie the game at 2-2, when Kevin Stross and Dan Liberto would finish the set off with back-to-back kills for a 46-44 set victory.

The Brewers were able to hold off the Hawks 3-2 (30-26, 30-28, 22-30, 44-46, 15-8) for the victory in the Hawk Center Wednesday night. The Hawks fall to 2-4 overall and return to the court Friday, January 29 against New Jersey City University at 7 p.m. in the Hawk Center.

Moore finished with a double-double with a game-high 27 kills and 17 digs. He also added three service aces and two blocks, while having a .477 hitting percentage. Stross also was strong on his attack with a hitting percentage of .472, 20 kills and a game-high five blocks. Liberto finished with 17 kills and Jonathan Van Dyke had eight kills and four blocks. Andrew Cassius helped the Hawks to 86 kills on the night with a game-high 69 assists and eight digs.

Vassar’s Phil Tully tied Moore with 27 kills on the night and 14 digs for a double-double. Evan Fredericksen also had a double-double with 21 kills and 12 digs. Matthew Elgin added 18 kills and three blocks for the Brewers who improve to 2-1 overall.

In the first set, the Brewers took control after a kill by Fredericksen to give Vassar a 23-22 advantage. Vassar would take a four point advantage and would hold off the Hawks for the 30-26 set victory.

In the second set, Liberto started the Hawks off with a kill and Cassius followed with two service aces and helped the Hawks to an 8-2 advantage. Vassar would battle back though as Elgin would serve back-to-back aces to bring the Brewers within three at 8-5. The Hawks would build their lead back up to six at 20-14 and would continue to hold their advantage to 27-22. Vassar would finish the set scoring eight of the final nine points, led by Tully who finished the set with six kills on nine attempts for a .667 hitting percentage.

After falling behind 2-0 after two sets, the Hawks took control in the third set scoring seven of nine points to take a 25-18 lead. Moore and Liberto finished the set with back-to-back kills and cut the lead to 2-1 with a 30-22 set win.

After the exciting fourth set, the Brewers came out in the fifth set and took control. The Brewers committed no errors in the set and Patrick Donohue broke a 5-5 tie by serving five straight points for Vassar. The Hawks rally came up short when Tully finished the game with a kill and the 3-2 victory.