Staten Island, NY – The Mountain Hawks are playing their best volleyball of the season, and at the right time too as they head towards the Patriot League tournament. Wednesday night they traveled to Wagner for their last non-conference match of the season, dispatching the home Seahawks 3-1. With the victory, the team moves to a season-high six games over .500 (18-12, 8-5). Wagner falls to 1-23 on the year. In maybe the team’s most complete performance all season, four different Mountain Hawks got into double figures in kills, led by senior Katie Dukatz who topped the team with 13.
Rebecca Gawronski had 12, as did Jeannette Singleton. Reigning Patriot League Freshman of the Week Michelle Schwendenmann had 10 kills, keeping her team-high streak of ten straight matches in double figures intact. Kerry Ann Krohn led the Seahawks with a match-high 14 kills. Wagner (1-23, 0-7) was overmatched for most of the night, dropping the first two games 30-24 and 30-21. In the third game, with the Mountain Hawks giving some rest to their starters, the Seahawks were able to battle back and take a game, 31-29, before losing the fourth 30-18.
“I know their record doesn’t say much,” said head coach
Patrick Nicholas, “but Wagner played really well tonight. They are much improved since we played them (at the Rider Cranberry Classic) in September. Still, I thought we played really well, and we were able to get (Jill) Racketa and Dominique Barnes some good time out there, let them show what they can do. We are playing at about our peak right now, which is where we need to be getting ready for the Patriot League championships.”Allison Jack had 45 assists on the night, raising her season total to 1,166, the fifth highest in school history with one regular season match to go. She needs 28 to move into third place, but already has set a new freshman record at Lehigh.The Mountain Hawks will close out the regular season Friday night with a match at Patriot League nemesis Lafayette in Easton, PA. Game time is set for 7:00.
