HIRAM, Ohio. – The Hilbert College women's volleyball team returned to action this afternoon and after suffering a straight-set shutout loss to Hiram, the Hawks battled to the end of the 5th set before falling 3-2 to another Ohio school, Marietta College.

Coach Christopher Krueger noted, "We competed and played as full unit, great scoring and defensive efforts from several different players." "Even though we didn't come away from the day with a "W", we left Ohio with some confidence."

Amanda Binder and Serena Tecl posted double digit kills with 20 and 15 respectively for the eight sets played.  Binder averaged 2.5 kps with a .302 attack average. 

Morgan Ott quarterbacked the road team with 37 assists on the day (4.62 aps) and the team got eight helpers from Kamalei Lene.

Defense came through for Hilbert with three players grabbing 20 digs over the course of both matches. Victoria Siracuse led with 28 digs (3.5 dps) followed by Anissa Quiroga and Torianna LeWand's 20 (2.5 dps).  Serena Tecl added 12 digs as the only other Hawk to reach double digits.

Ashley Repine earned a pair of solo blocks and joined Binder with four block assists while Tecl led with five block assists.

Hilbert started the tri-match with a 4pm contest against the hosts, Hiram.  The Terriers took little time to put the match in the books with set scores 25-12, 25-12, 25-11. 

Hiram dominated at the net earning 39 kills (.372) and 12 service aces.  Hilbert, having just gotten off the bus, was slow to connect and finished with 13 team kills but 17 attack errors and seven service errors.

Morgan Ott was a hitter in the opening match leading the Hawks with five kills in 18 attempts.  Kamalei Lene added eight assists while Victoria Siracuse led with eight digs.

The second match of the day was an exciting one as Hilbert took Marietta to five-sets. (26-24, 14-25, 25-19, 20-25, 12-15).

The Hawks actually finished with a better attack percentage (.152 v .128).  The Pioneers took 54 points from kills and 11 service aces but gave up 33 points on attack errors  yet only committed six service errors.  Hilbert posted 46 kills (24 errors) but gave up 12 points on service errors.  The Hawks were better at the net leading with eight total blocks

Binder earned 16 kills and Tecl followed with 14 offensive points.  Both were above .300 hitting as each finished with only five hitting errors.

Ott assisted 35 times and earned a pair of service aces.  Tecl's three aces contributed to Hilbert's eight during the match..

Quiroga (16) and LeWand (14) were active on defense combining for 30 of the team's 67 digs.  It was Siracuse who led with her first 20-dig contest in the loss.

Hilbert (1-3) will prepare for their first tournament of the season when they travel to the Golden Eagle Invite hosted by the College of Brockport next weekend. 

The Hawks will square off against Canton and Lycoming on Friday, 16th and the next morning, they'll face Mount Union and Medaille. 

"It's scary how far this team has already come and I just want to start our conference schedule now," added Krueger.