ALFRED, NY – As the Hawks got on their way to Alfred on Saturday afternoon they had securing a "W" to end conference play in the front of their minds. After a few bumps along the road on their trip, the Hawks were welcomed to Alfred with the pressure of playing on Alfred's senior day. Like many matches before, the Hawks did not crack under that pressure. After dropping the first two sets, the Hawks finished the match by sweeping the last three winning the match 3-2 (17-25, 11-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-11) and wrapping up conference play with a win. The victory was also the ninth in a row for 'Wick. The Hawks now advance to 17-2 on the year and wrap up Empire 8 play 7-1; The Saxons drop to 9-13 on the year and 2-6 in conference play.
After being down early it was a Hartwick timeout with the scoreboard reading 13-5 in favor of the Saxons that seemed to settle the Hawks down. Out of the timeout, the Hawks would go on to have a 7-2 run. A kill from Kaileigh Brandow (Manorville, NY/Eastport South Manor) got the score to 14-11 in favor of the Saxons but an error from the Hawks brought the score to 15-12. The Hawks' run seemed as if it might be enough, but the Saxons answered with a run of their own, getting set one to 22-14 in their favor. Hartwick would not go away, tallying three more points with Toria Betelak (North Syracuse, NY/Liverpool) behind the service line, but the counterattack was not enough and the Saxons took set one, 25-17.
Ready to bounce back from set 1 and get back on track, the Hawks got the second game tied at 5-5 with a Brandow kill, but from there set two was all Saxons. They would continue to go on a 20-6 run over the Hawks and win 25-11.
With the match on the line, the Hawks walked onto the hardwood to start set three with looks in their eyes that they needed to grind out a win over a dominating Alfred squad. That is exactly what they did, as the Hawks took a quick 4-1 lead over with kills from Colette Maloney (Williston Park, NY/Mineola) and Betelak. After back-and-forth play from both teams tied the game at five and then seven it was an attack error from the Saxons that gave the Hawks the push they needed and got the score to 8-7. The Hawks took that error and capitalized, leading the rest of the way. A service ace from Kailee Muscarello (Sayville, NY/Sayville) followed by a Staecia Silofau (Kapolei, HI/Maryknoll) kill later got the score to 24-19. Like before, an error from the Saxons gave the Hawks a push, this time being for a set win. The Hawks won set three by a 25-20 score.
After rallying for their first win of the match, the Hawks knew it was time to turn it up a notch and see what they were made of. The Hawks started hot, going up 8-4 over the Saxons from a Myla Dobson (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) kill, but the Saxons would not go away. They went on a run of their own, getting the set to 13-12 in favor of the Hawks, but it was senior Dell Potts (Niverville, NY/Ichabod Crane) who had a kill to get the game to 14-12 and put the Hawks on an 8-4 run. After back-to-back kills from Silofau to advance the game to 22-16 Hawks, the Saxons called a timeout and tried to slow the Hawks. Out of the timeout, Braelyn Hornick (Candor, NY/Candor) kept the Hawks hot with a service ace, and after a service error from the Saxons, Maloney sent home a kill to seal set four, 25-19 Hawks.
The fifth set started 3-3 after a few crazy rallies. A service ace from Brandow seemed as if it would let the Hawks pull away, but an ace back from the Saxons got the score tied at five-all. After a Hornick ace put the Hawks on a 5-2 run, the Hawks took a 10-7 lead. To end the set it was Hartwick who finally found their momentum and went on a 3-0 run out of an Alfred timeout that completed the Hawks spectacular comeback. A Dobson kill ended the set at 15-11 and the match 3-2.
Silofau led the way with 11 kills, with counterpart Betelak at just one less following right behind. Hornick led the Hawks with 22 assists.
The Hawks return to play Saturday, October 30 at 2 & 4 p.m., facing off against Baruch College and SUNY Oneonta in the Alumni Field House on the campus of SUNY Oneonta.
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