MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College volleyball team suffered a 3-0 loss to crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire on Wednesday.

With the loss, the Hawks drop to 18-8 on the season and 7-3 in Northeast-10 Conference play while the Penmen improve to 12-5 overall and 6-2 in league matches. Saint Anselm is off until Friday, Nov. 4 the University of New Haven comes to the Hilltop for a 6 p.m. match.

The largest margin of victory in any of the sets was five points, which came in set one, 25-20. The Penmen would sneak away with 26-24 and 25-23 wins in sets two and three.

Each program posted a win in the regular season series which earns both sides one point in the Queen City Cup standings. Saint Anselm currently leads by a 7-5 score.

Freshman Ava Kidd (Walton, Ky.) led the Hawks offense with 11 kills while senior Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) threw up 28 assists.

Junior Kaitlin Brown (Glendale, Ariz.) and senior Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) posted 12 digs and 10 digs each for the Saint Anselm defense.

Southern New Hampshire jumped out to a five-point edge with four consecutive points and they would maintain that lead through the set, ultimately leading by a 17-12 edge. After a three-point run by the Hawks, the Penmen responded with five of their own to take a 22-15 lead and would close out the opening set following a Hawks attack error at 25-20.

A back-and-forth set two saw the Penmen open an 18-14 lead but the Hawks, behind kills from senior Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) and Kidd, cut the deficit to two after scoring on four of five points. A kill by Ana Pimenta got Southern New Hampshire back on the scoreboard but four consecutive scores from the Hawks gave them a 22-21 lead. The squads swapped scores but a kill from junior Audrey Wetjen (Henderson, Nev.) knotted the set at 24. A service error and a kill by Carmen Bernardis gave the Penmen the two-point edge and set two by a 26-24 score.

A pair of kills from Dai Thawnghmung and two Deanne Wilson service aces pushed Southern New Hampshire out to an 11-8 lead following four consecutive points. The Hawks rallied with seven of the next eight to take a 15-12 advantage following a kill from Casey. However, the Penmen used an 8-3 run to regain their lead at 20-18. After a quick swap of scores, Saint Anselm used three consecutive scores to tie the match at 22 but three kills from the Penmen would give them set three at 25-23 and the match in straight sets.