LOWELL, Mass. – Junior outside hitter
Katherine Claybaugh (Alamo, Calif.) notched a match-high 17 kills, but it wasn't enough as the UMass Lowell Volleyball team fell at Hartford, 3-1 on Friday night at the Hartford Volleyball Gym in America East play. The set scores were 17-25, 25-11, 22-25 and 23-25.
UMass Lowell drops to 3-19 overall (1-7 AE), while the Hawks up their record to 10-10 overall (3-5 AE).
"We fought hard tonight and played some of our best volleyball at times," said UMass Lowell Volleyball Head Coach
Resa Provanzano. "We had great offensive production from multiple hitters and made good adjustments on defense. Unfortunately, we made too many unforced errors at the wrong times. We will look to clean up our game and be ready to play a strong Stony Brook team on Sunday afternoon."
Claybaugh also added six digs and a .205 hitting percentage. Redshirt sophomore
Malia Randolph (McDonough, Ga.) had another solid all-around game with 12 kills, 14 digs, 21 assists and a .346 hitting percentage.
Freshman outside hitter
Kate Bilyeu (Omaha, Neb.) added 10 kills and a .286 hitting percentage for the River Hawks.
Sophomore middle blocker
Grace Burkett (Lakeside, Calif.) added four kills and a career-high eight total blocks (1s,7a) for UMass Lowell.
Freshman defensive specialist
Aleyna Kennel (Monument, Colo.) and junior setter
McKenna Bova (Corona, Calif.) each tallied nine digs apiece in strong defensive efforts. Kennel added another three service aces to add to her team-leading total of 21, while Bova added 23 assists in splitting time with Randolph running the River Hawk offense.
The River Hawks scored five unanswered points to close out the second set, which included kills by Burkett and Randolph, and an ace by Kennel.
UMass Lowell hit at a .278 clip in the second set, to go along with a .256 hitting percentage in set three and a .231 clip in the fourth and final set. The River Hawks notched a match-high 17 kills in the third set in the losing effort, to go along with 13 kills in the second and fourth frames.
The River Hawks return to action on Sunday, October 28
th at Stony Brook. Match time from Pritchard Gymnasium is 1 p.m.
