CANTON, NY – Hartwick volleyball dropped its first match to RIT 3-0 (17-25, 19-25, 14-25) but responded with a big 3-1 (14-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-20) victory over host St. Lawrence (10-8) at the Canton Classic Friday night. The win marks the first for the Hawks over the Saints since 2006.
           
Against the Tigers, sophomore Quincy Kinzel (Scotia, NY/Guilderland) registered 12 assists and seven digs for the Hawks. Sophomore Alyssa Zeitler (Chardon, OH/Berkshire) had 12 digs and senior Dana Martin (Chester, NY/Burke Catholic) added nine. Freshman Rosa Maun (Redstone, CO/Roaring Fork) recorded the team-high in kills with five.
           
RIT received 17 kills from Sarah Szybist. Laiz Novaes distributed 31 assists and Bethany Davis (14), Amy Van Hienan (11), and Hanna Stokes (10) had double-digit digs.
           
Against St. Lawrence, the Saints led the whole way in the opening set. SLU built an eight-point advantage, 14-6, and later got the lead to ten, 23-13. A Lexi Brown kill closed out the set for the Saints, 25-14.
           
In the second set, a Zeitler ace put the Hawks in front, 5-4, and they increased the margin to six at 16-10 following a Christine Confer (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) kill. The Saints rallied for eight of the next 10 points to even the set at 18. Later with the score knotted at 20-20, four straight points from the Hawks, with sophomore Hannah Armstrong (Lansing, NY/Lansing) and junior Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) each contributing a kill, put the Hawks one point away from evening the match at one set all. Kinzel finished it off with a kill from Armstrong and the match was tied.
           
Hartwick (6-11) trailed for much of the third set which was evenly played throughout. The Hawks' largest deficit was four at 18-14, but four straight points, including a Vonasek ace and a kill, tied the score up. Four lead changes and seven tie scores highlighted the rest of the set. With the score 24-24, Martin killed to give the Hawks a one-point edge. A Saint attack error handed 'Wick the set and it held a 2-1 lead.
           
The fourth set was just as close as the third with 11 tie scores before either team got to 14 points. The Hawks took command with six out of seven points with Confer, Armstrong, and Kinzel notching kills to build a 20-14 lead. The Saints got as close as four points three times late in the set, but twice service aces doomed them. After their second straight miscue on a serve, 'Wick led 24-20. Vonasek then put the match away with her sixth kill of the night.
           
Junior Mary Beth DeCuyke (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown) finished the match with nine kills and a hitting percentage of .389 (9-2-18). Martin also had nine kills and she added five digs.
           
Armstrong recorded six kills and tied for a match-high with 12 digs. Kinzel dished out 30 assists and had six digs.
           
The Saints received 36 of their 49 kills from Brown (22) and Cristina Deschaine (14). Katie Kull had 26 assists and Marisa Turner and Katarina Marczeski each accumulated 12 digs.  
           
Play continues tomorrow for the Hawks. 'Wick plays at SUNY Canton at 1 p.m. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Hawks and Roos.