HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Hilbert College men's volleyball team started the second day of the six-team NEAC crossover weekend with an early 9 am match against Wilson College and closed the nine match event with an 8 pm game against Lancaster Bible.

The Hawks dropped both games but showed spirit in each match.   Wilson claimed a 3-1 victory and Lancaster Bible closed the weekend unblemished (3-0) with a straight set win against the Hawks.

Adam Heftka assisted on 40 kills and padded his career ace total with two more while collecting seven digs against Wilson.

Tanner Makowski led with 15 kills, three service aces and three digs while Michael Podgorny added 13 kills and six digs.

Brandon Henry earned a career-high 17 digs in the morning game.

Neither team took a big lead in the opening set as each side of the court took turns serving.  Wilson won a close 25-23 victory over the Hawks.

The second set started much like the first, with play and serve switching side consistently.  The Phoenix went on a four-point run and built a 17-12 lead causing Hilbert to take a timeout.  Wilson then closed the second set on an 8-0 run for the win, 25-12.

Hilbert rebounded in the third and found their legs.  The Hawks trailed 16-13 but rallied with a 7-3 run.   Nicholas Rice was credited with a kill and Tanner Makowski followed with a service ace which gave Hilbert a 20-19 lead.  

After a 21-21 score, Hilbert built a 24-22 lead thanks to three Podgorny kills.  Wilson gave the Hawks the set (25-23) off a service error and sent the match to a fourth set.

Neither team established dominance in the next set.  Wilson stretched a 14-14 score by 3 points, and extended it to 22-19.  Makowski sandwiched a pair of kills around a Heftka service ace to match the score at 22 all.  Back-to-back ball handling errors by Hilbert opened the door for Wilson to take the match at 25-23.

Lancaster Bible stayed hot in the late-night game.  They hit their way to 25-22, 25-13, 25-17 match victory to improve to 22-7 overall and 11-3 which kept them in second place in the NEAC standings.

Hilbert finished with 16 kills while the visitors collected 35 in the three sets.  Podgorny led with seven kills and Heftka dished 13 assists around the net.  Henry again was the big dig leader as he picked-up 11 more tonight.

The Hawks (0-18, 0-13 NEAC) heads to Erie, Pa this week for an AMCC match against Penn State Behrend on March 28.  They close their NEAC crossover weekend play at D'Youville College next weekend against Keuka, Wells, and SUNY Poly before they celebrate their senior athletes April 4 against Thiel College.