HAMBURG, N.Y. –  The Elmira College women's volleyball team dropped its Thursday evening matchup with the Hawks from Hilbert College, picking up a third set victory before eventually falling in four. The Soaring Eagles, who struggled from the attack during the match, were paced by Makenna Clark '25 who finished with nine kills to go along with three service aces, while Morgan Sica '28 finished with a trio of kills and a pair of blocks.

JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 1, Hilbert 3
LOCATION: Hamburg, N.Y.  | Hafner Recreation Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (2-9, 0-0 Empire 8), Hilbert (2-12, 0-0 AMCC)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• After Clark recorded the first point of the match on a kill, the Hawks would score the next seven with Molly McKinnon at the service position for the Hawks. During the set, the Soaring Eagles would pull to as little as a five point deficit, but four consecutive points for the Hawks to end the frame gave the home team a 1-0 advantage in the match, and a 25-15 first set victory.
• In the second, the teams battled to a 7-7 tie until five of the next six points swung in favor of the Hawks, who controlled the set 12-8. Elmira would see itself down five, eventually scoring four consecutive points of its own on kills from Morgan Richardson '25 and Asia Curkendall '25, along with a pair of Hawk attacking errors. Leading 16-15, Hilbert would then string together four straight points of its own and despite a late push from the Purple & Gold, the Hawks would score the last two points and take the second set, 25-21. 
• Elmira's best set of the evening would come in the third, as the team recorded 11 kills and just three attacking errors for a hitting percentage of .258. With Hilbert leading 8-5, Elmira would go on to score ten of the next 12 points, which was started with a string of four consecutive kills from Clark, Erin Bracken '28, Madi Conti '28, and Clark once again. Growing its lead to 16-13, Elmira would end up scoring nine of the final 11 points, which included three kills from Clark during the run to take the set 25-15. 
• The fourth set would ultimately belong to the Hawks, whom after trailing 4-2 would go on to score 23 of the next 26 points, while holding Elmira without a kill in the frame, to eventually take the match 3-1. 

UP NEXT:
Elmira heads to Bradford, Pennsylvania this weekend to take part in the Panther Invitational, hosted by Pitt-Bradford. After taking on the Panthers at 1:00 PM, the Purple & Gold will finish the afternoon with a matchup against Wilson College on Saturday at 3:00 PM.