POTSDAM, NY- The women's volleyball team continued play at the North Country Classic as they went up against Clarkson and Neumann on Saturday afternoon.
The Hawks fell in their first match of the day to the Golden Knights 3-0 (21-25, 22-25, 16-25). Shannon McGee (Cortlandt Manor/Walter Panas) produced 15 assists and nine digs. Christine Confer (Webster, NY/Webster) had seven kills. Lauren Mausert (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) contributed seven digs, Mickey Coons (Cornwall, NY/Cornwall) chipped in eight digs and Briana Eckert (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) secured nine digs.
Clarkson won the first set by four points and it was that close throughout the first game, but the second set proved to be a wild affair. Clarkson jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Hartwick picked up a point to gain the serve for Christina Vitale (Port Jefferson Station/St. John the Baptist), who then ran off 11 more points in a row to give Hartwick a 13-4 advantage despite two timeouts from Clarkson. An attack error by the Hawks finally ended the streak, but Hartwick continued to hold off the Knights. Trailing by six points late, however, Clarkson scored 12 of the final 15 points to pick up the second set victory.
The Knights couldn't hold that momentum going into the third set, as Hartwick again jumped out to an early lead, 5-0. Clarkson would come back and finished the match by outscoring the Hawks 25-11 the rest of the way.
Lani Durio had seven kills on just 10 swings and also led the team with 24 assists for Clarkson. Sara Artus had six kills to go along with 15 digs, which tied teammate Erika Chin for the match-high.
In their second match of the day, 'Wick dropped a hard-fought decision against Neumann 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 18-25, 25-23, 6-15). Mausert had 19 digs while Eckert contributed 16 digs. McGee had 25 assists. Dana Martin (Chester, NY/Burke Catholic) had a team high 12 kills and also contributed three digs. For her efforts she was named to the All-Tournament Team.
The Hawks' next match will be at Lambros Arena this coming Tuesday night at 7 pm against Cazenovia.
