SPRINGFIELD, OH – The Hilbert Hawks men's volleyball team wrapped up day two at the Wittenberg Quad today. The Hawks started the day with a three-set victory over Olivet College (25-13, 25-10, 25-20) before bowing to host Wittenberg in the championship match in straight sets (25-15, 25-20, 25-21). The Hawks finished the opening weekend with a 2-1 record.

In the first match of the day, Hilbert dictated the pace of the match and never trailed after the first five points of any of the three sets. A big reason for the Hawks success was a 10 to 1 advantage over Olivet from the service line.

Junior Adam Heftka assisted on 26 of the Hawks' 32 kills, while also adding 4 service aces. Korey Schwab and Michael Podgorny continued to be strong scoring presences each totaling 7 kills, while Tyler Sieczkarek hit .313 with 5 kills, 0 errors on 16 attempts. Ryan Schwab became the first Hawk to total double digit digs in a match with his 11 digs.

The Hawks struggled to get anything going early in the second match of the day against host Wittenberg. Hilbert closed an early deficit to two points before the Tigers were able to break the first set open with a 14-2 run. Wittenberg connected for a blistering .375 hitting percentage in the first set while

Hilbert hit much better in the second set but still fell short by a score of 25-20. The Hawks kept the deficit to three points until the Tigers broke the set open with a 6-1 run to make the score 24-16. Hilbert scored the next four points following the Wittenberg run, but it is too little too late for the Hawks as they dropped set two 25-20.

Once again in set 3, Wittenberg went on a big run to pull away from the Hawks. With the score 21-21, the Tigers forced 3 of the next 4 points to close out the set 25-21.
Korey Schwab and Michael Podgorny were the leading scorers for the Hawks each with 7 kills apiece.

The Hawks return to action Thursday January 28 when they travel to conference foe D'Youville College to kick off the NEAC portion of their schedule. The match will be streamed live via this link  First serve is at 7pm.