WILLIAMSPORT, PA – The Hartwick volleyball team split their first two matches of the weekend's Lycoming Tournament. They breezed past the hosts, 3-0, in their first match, and squandered a 2-0 lead in the second game to fall, 3-2, to Elizabethtown. The Hawks are now 3-3 on the season.

Match One vs. Lycoming (3-0; 26-24, 25-18, 25-11)

• The Hawks went down 7-4 thanks in part to a few of their own attack errors, but were eventually able to take a 10-9 lead after a Toria Betelak (North Syracuse, NY/Liverpool) kill. 
• The teams traded a few points after that and stayed within one of each other until the Warriors made it 16-14 on a Katie Hausknecht kill.
• Hartwick stayed with it, coming back to tie it at 17 and eventually taking a 23-21 lead.
• The Warriors responded by taking 'Wick to the brink via three consecutive points, but a ball handling error, ace from Kiera Walsh (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), and Lycoming attack error gave Hartwick the set.
• The Hawks had a bit of an easier time in game two. With a slim 13-12 lead, they won six of the next seven points for a 19-13 advantage, the last four of which came via kills from Kaitlyn Ludder (West Sand Lake, NY/Averill Park), Celia Gagnon (Kinderhook, NY/Ichabod Crane), and Maria Sorriento (Troy, NY/Troy) and an ace from Katie Boak (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool). That was the end of the Warrior threat, as 'Wick had lengthened their lead to seven by the time the set ended.
• Any hope for a Lycoming comeback was snuffed out early in game three, as the Hawks went up 6-2 and 9-3. They would lengthen that lead out to 19-5 after a 9-0 run, and once again had an easy road to the end of the match, winning the final game by 14 points.
• Gagnon and Colette Maloney (Williston Park, NY/Mineola) led all players with nine kills. Gagnon also had four aces to lead the match, and Maloney had seven kills and two blocks.
• Ericson, fresh off All-Tournament honors in the Cardinal Classic last weekend, had a match-high 25 assists, giving her five straight games to start the season with 20 or more helpers. She also had eight digs.
• Boak led the Hawks with 12 digs, and had three aces as well.
• Betelak registered six kills and had a match-high three blocks.
• The Hawks had a much more efficient game than the Warriors hitting-wise, with a .218 kill percentage compared to the host's .020.
• This was 'Wick's first ever win against Lycoming, as they had gone 0-9 dating back to their first matchup in 1995.

Match Two vs. Elizabethtown (2-3; 25-23, 27-25, 20-25, 15-25, 16-14)

• Hartwick went down 6-3 early, but battled back to take a 9-8 lead. From there, the teams stayed close to each other for the rest of the game, with neither leading by more than two. Elizabethtown led  21-19, but the Hawks were able to take a 22-21 lead before the score settled at 23-all. Kills from Sorriento and Gagnon gave 'Wick a first set win.
• The second game saw the Blue Jays go up 6-1 early, but the Hawks slowly closed the gap and tied it at 12. From there, Elizabethtown won five of the next six points to take a four-point lead, and eventually went up 21-16.
• Hartwick stayed with it, though, and put together a 4-0 run when down 23-19 that saw two kills by Betelak and one each from Sorriento and Maloney, tying the game. The teams each took two of the next four points before an Elizabethtown attack error and an Ericson kill ended the game and put the Hawks up two sets to zero.
• In the third set, the teams battled out to five-all before the Blue Jays went on a 6-0 run to take control of the game. Hartwick was only able to get it as close as four as they lost their first game of the day.
• Elizabethtown took control of the fourth set earlier, jumping out to a 9-3 advantage. 'Wick was able to close it to 11-8, but not any closer, as the Blue Jays lengthened their lead all the way to 21-11 before tying the match up with a 25-15 win.
• The decisive fifth set looked like it might go to the Blue Jays in a runaway, as they led 7-3. The Hawks got back in it, however, tying and taking an 11-10 lead on kills from Betelak and Ludder. 'Wick would later see a match point, up 14-13, but Elizabethtown won the point to tie it at 14-all. A kill by Allison Fischer and a block by Julia Baker gave the Blue Jays the last two points they needed, and a comeback 3-2 win.
• Four Hawks had double-digit kills in the five-set match. Maloney led with 15, tying for the match-high, Sorriento had 14, and Gagnon and Betelak had 10 each. 
• Ericson had a match- and career-high 50 assists, putting her just outside the top ten on the program's all-time single game list.  She also put up a career-high 18 digs for the double-double.
• Boak had 17 digs while Ludder contributed with 14 digs and six kills.
• This was Hartwick's first ever meeting against Elizabethtown.

The Hawks are right back at it tomorrow for day two of the tournament. They will take on Alfred State at 11 a.m. and University of Pittsburgh at Bradford at 1 p.m.

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