Women's Volleyball | 11/2/2015 11:18:00 AM
JAMAICA, N.Y. – The York College women's volleyball team will go on the road as a #7 seed to take on the defending-champion Hunter College Hawks, who are the #2 seed, in a CUNYAC Quarterfinals match-up, on Tuesday, November 3 at 6:30 p.m. The Cardinals look to avenge their loss to the Hawks in last year's playoffs.
The two teams met early on in the season. Hunter defeated York in straight sets. The Cardinals struggled to get any offensive momentum in the match. However, the Cardinals are a different team than what they were in early September.
Overall, York (6-19, 2-6 CUNYAC) has struggled this season so far, especially in conference. The Cardinals finished off the regular season with two non-conference wins, defeating Yeshiva and SUNY Purchase. They look to build off this momentum in the playoffs.
Hunter College dominated this year, earning a 20-13 record overall, while going 7-1 in the conference. In each conference win this year, the Hawks won by a score of 3-0. Their only loss came against top-seeded Baruch College. The Hawks will be tough to beat, as they are currently riding a four-match winning streak. The Hawks also finished first in the conference in hitting percentage, assists, kills, and blocks.
The key players for York are
Renee Daley,
Shauncia McClendon, and
Kiranjeet Kaur. These three players are the most experienced on the team and will need to provide leadership going into the match. Daley is top-10 in the conference in kills per set with 2.07. McClendon is second on the team with 153 total kills and Kaur leads with 272 assists.
For Hunter College, there are multiple players to watch. Samantha Barrett, Paola Martinez, Julia Connolly, Miranda Hogan are all difference-makers. Barrett, Martinez, and Connolly are all in the top-three for hitting percentage in the conference. In fact, Connolly, a CUNYAC Player of the Year candidate, led the conference in total kills with 391. Hogan totaled 1,051 assists and an average of 8.69 assists per set.
If the Cardinals are able to upset the Hawks, they will move on to the semifinals on November 6. For those who want to follow the action, the match will include live stats. The link for the live stats is on http://www.sidearmstats.com/hunter/wvball/.
