Box Score MANCHESTER, N.H. –  The Hawks fell in four sets to Molloy University after a long back and forth battle by a 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, and 25-15 final. UP NEXT:

• The Hawks will continue in tournament play at home on Saturday September 7^th taking on Franklin Pierce University with a 2:00PM start time.

Score: Saint Anselm 1, Molloy 3
Records: Saint Anselm (0-2); Molloy (1-1)
Location: Manchester, N.H. (Stoutenburgh Gymnasium)
Date: Friday, September 6th, 2024
Attendance: 124
  HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first set quickly went in favor of the Molloy Lions as the Hawks had trouble receiving early serves from the visitors. Julia Zalta registered an early service ace for the Lions giving them an early 6-0 lead. Sophomore Hollyn Frano (Cave Creek, Ariz.) would find the first points for the Hawks scoring off of a hard swing to break up the run. The Hawks would find their second point of the set off of an error from the Lions, but the visitors would go on an eight-point run to take a 15-3 advantage. Throughout the run the Lions tabbed three straight service aces from Aria Miller. Saint Anselm would finally see momentum going on their own five-point run using another kill from Frano, and huge service ace from Abigail Macalaguim (Chula Vista, Calif.) to bring the score 17-9. A handful of errors from the home team allowed for the Lions lead to expand back to 11, but a Frano ace and a triple threat of kills from Melis Kocak (East Greenwich, R.I.) quickly brought the set to within six as the score moved to 22-16 in favor of Molloy. The Hawks would score two more points before the Lions would finalize the set 25-18 with a Kiarra Roth kill.
• The second would flip the story for the Hawks as they jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead off a handful of errors by Molloy and a kill from Kocak. The Lions would slowly respond bringing the score to 7-3 off of a strong swing and kill from Isabella Rios but a service ace from Hannah Storm (Swansea, Mass.) and kill from Kocak would push the visitors into an early timeout. The timeout would seem to ignite a hotter fire for the Hawks as Kocak would explode for back to back kills followed by back-to-back kills from teammate Miia Dembski (Lancaster, N.Y.) giving a 14-4 advantage halfway through the set. A second timeout would only temporarily stop the bleeding for Molloy as the Hawks would go on another 4-0 run off of a kill from Macalaguim and Taylor Lacerda (Franklin, Mass.). The visitors would find their voice capitalizing off an error and a block and kill from Roth bringing the score within six before the home team would call their own timeout.  Molloy would go on a 5-1 run registering three kills and a service ace to bring the score within one.  The ending of the set would be pack full of excitement as the Hawks would gain a 24-21 advantage off of a Frano kill, but the Lions would bring the score within two off of a pair of errors made from the Hawks. Saint Anselm would seal the deal winning their first set of the season off of a Molloy attacking error.
• The home team would continue swinging into the third set with Macalaguim registering a pair of service aces, while Kocak would tab a kill and impressive block to put the Hawks up 6-2 early. The two teams would continue to battle back and forth keeping the score within two, even then back within two for both sides. Throughout the battle the teams would exchange errors, net violations and huge swings from Frano and Dembski. Kocak would continue to put on a block show for the home fans notching her fifth monster block against Molloy and adding a tenth kill keeping the score even at 17s. The Lions would earn some breathing room late in the set taking a 20-18 advantage off of a Roth and Erin Stanley kill package before the Hawks would take a timeout. The teams would continue to exchange points back and forth until the score would even out at 22 a piece. The Lions would go on a 3-0 run to secure the win and take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
• The fourth set would open with a quick 6-2 run for the Lions off of a pair of errors from the Hawks alongside a Roth kill.  The Hawks would slowly chip their way back into the set moving to within four, 10-14, off of Frano, Kocak and Lacerda kills. Molloy would then go on a 8-0 run with back-to-back kills from Roth partnered with a Rios kill before the Hawks would call a timeout freezing the score at 19-10.  The Hawks would see three more kills from Kocak before the Lions would finish the match with a dominant final kill from Stanley.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: 

• Kocak led the offense with 14 kills and put on a show with five blocks and tabbed one dig. Frano followed closely behind with 10 kills of her own to go with two service aces, and eight digs.
• Defensively Madeline Burke (Lake George, N.Y.) led the way 15 digs along with tallying four assists.
• As a team the Hawks registered 35 kills, ten aces, and 33 assists.

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