By Matt Colucci

After losing their first MAAC Conference matchup on Saturday against Fairfield 3-1, the Quinnipiac Bobcats were looking to rebound against their non-conference opponents, the Hartford Hawks, but fell short again, 3-1.

Hartford (6-10) entered the match with an edge over Quinnipiac (2-11) due to their maturity, as they outnumber Quinnipiac’s upperclassmen 10 to five.

Hartford took the first point with ease but senior libero Logan Riker (Bowling Green, Ohio) immediately fired up her troops and Quinnipiac was able to provide a swift counterattack to Hartford’s powerhouses, Maya Louis and Dionna Kirton. Riker and freshman Jamie Paolucci (Lake Mary, Fla.) went back and forth with Louis and Kirton for the beginning of the game, but the Bobcats dropped the first set to the Hawks 25-19.

The second set started off the same as the first one did, kill for kill. After an extensive rally that the Hawks surrendered after a double-hit, the Bobcats were able to string together an 8-1 run, causing the Hawks to burn a timeout. Hartford attempted a second push but the Quinnipiac was able to hang on to 25-23 to even the match 1-1.

“I thought they played very well the whole game,” coach Czaplinski said. “We made some errors at the end which cost us, but I thought they played with a lot of intensity and a lot of heart.”

After two evenly matched sets, Hartford went on a 10-0 run. Throughout the rest of the third set, the Bobcats attempted to turn the momentum in their favor but the energy of the Hawks was too much to handle, and they took back the match lead 2-1 after closing out the third set, 25-12.

Quinnipiac was energized coming off the starting blocks in the fourth set as they burst open an 8-4 lead but the Hawks continued to spoil the Bobcats’ leads. Louis and Kirton both picked their game up a notch and smashed the ball into the midst of Bobcats as the Hawks rolled to a 25-22 fourth set victory and a match victory of 3-1.

Kirton led all players with 15 kills, followed by the Bobcats’ sophomore Chandler Thornton’s (Arlington, Texas) 11.

“We need to mix in everybody right now,” coach Czaplinski said. “The team dynamic and everything is there, we just need to keep pushing and keep fighting and everything will be alright.”

With the win over Quinnipiac, Hartford extended their winning streak to three games. The Bobcats will attempt to put an end to their three-game skid when they visit Iona on Saturday.