Women's Volleyball 9/24/2012 9:09:00 AM

Hawks Finish 1-3 Versus Regionally Ranked Opponents at MIT Tournament

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4 The Roger Williams Volleyball Team played four regionally ranked opponents this weekend at the MIT Invitational, finishing 1-3 against the competition.

On Friday evening the Hawks opened play against the Judges of Brandeis University.  The Hawks fell behind two sets, before rallying to win the final three sets and the match (22-25, 7-25, 25-20, 25-18, 17-15).

"Our ability to be flexible and move players around allowed us to get things going in the right direction," Coach Somera said. "Alexa Armenti (Dix Hills, N.Y.) took over setting duties in the third game. Krystie Luczynski (Kensington, Conn.) was able to spark our offense from the middle blocking position which took some pressure off the outside hitters."

The Hawks hit a -.050 in the first two games before finding their offensive rhythm and hitting .264 in the last three games.  Senior attacker, Kelsey Twarog (Barkhamsted, Conn.), provided steady kill production throughout the match with 9 kills and a hitting efficiency of .400.  Luczynski led the Hawks with 10 kills, with Elizabeth Flaherty (Sloatsburg, N.Y.) adding 9 Kills and Abby Cunningham (Catasauqua, Pa) chipped in 7.  Andrea Gorman (Wilbraham, Mass.) led the Hawks' blocking efforts with 6 block assists, and added 5 kills offensively. Kelsee Loche tallied 14 digs.

"The match had a lot of errors on both sides of the net and the momentum changes swung quickly," added Coach Somera. "The 5^th set was a rollercoaster ride but we continued to fight despite being down 3-8 at the side change and found a way to win."  Hawks improved their record to 9-3 overall while Brandeis dropped to 9-3.

In the second match of the evening the Hawks lost a 3-0 decision to the Engineers of MIT.  Luczynski and Cunningham paced the Hawks with 7 kills each while Loche tallied 19 digs in the match.

In Saturday morning's action, the Hawks were outmatched by Bowdoin College, losing 3-0.  The Hawks never really found their offensive rhythm in the match tallying 21 kills, 18 errors, on 94 attempts for a hitting efficiency .003 for the match.  Loche paced the defense with 12 digs.   "Bowdoin is a good serving team that is backed by a solid defense.  Their ability to dig the hard shot and pursue balls really frustrated our attackers. "

In the final match of the tournament the Hawks lost a 3-1 decision to the Blues of Wellesley.  The Hawks record drops to 9-6 on the season while Wellesley remains undefeated at 13-0.

Somera remarked, "I thought we played our best match of the tournament in this loss.  In game 3 our offense looked the best it has this season versus a quality opponent and we had opportunities to extend the match to a fourth game but came up a little short."

Coach Somera summed up the weekend, "This was a very productive weekend for us and I like playing this level of competition.  Playing opponents that can capitalize on errors identifies the areas of your game that we need improve."

The Hawks are back on the road at Emerson College at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, September 27, and then return home for two matches on Saturday, September 29, at 12:00 p.m. against conference opponent University of New England, and 4:00 p.m. against Keene State.

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