Hawks rebound to beat tough foe Menlo

2021 SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN HAWKS VOLLEYBALL

ECS staff report

EL CAJON —- The ups-and-downs in the Golden State Athletic Conference were evident over the weekend (Sept. 17-18), in a pair of San Diego Christian College women’s volleyball matches.

The Hawks, on the rise following a 5-1 start to the season, met another rising club in the William Jessup University of Northern California, which came down to a fifth-set tiebreaker.

Although the Hawks fell 15-13 in a near come-from-behind effort, SDCC came back to takedown Menlo College to snap a seven-match losing streak to the Oaks on Saturday. as the hosts took a 25-18,23-25,25-21,25-18 decision at the new Salvation Army Gym.

“This was a great win against Menlo for the first time in a long time,” said Hawks head coach Gene Krieger. “The conference competition this year is wide open and we are looking forward to being in the mix.”

In stopping Menlo, the Hawks set the tone with a quick start, post-to-wire victory.

In the first set. Senior setter, Arianna Velasquez started the match with an ace and followed it up with an assist to junior outside hitter, Anuhea Kaohi. For the remainder of the set, the SDCC hitters spread the kills around.

For the match,  Isabella Marshall and Jessica Pinasco handling the bulk of the attack. Aixa Crespo helped finish off the set with consecutive kills before Marshall smashed home the final point.

Marshall’s big outing, in which she led all attackers with 15 kills, was capped with the final kill in a convincing fourth-set clincher.

“This win put us back in the hunt for the conference championship,” added Kreiger. “We’re looking forward to traveling to The Master’s next week.”

“Isabella Marshall was awesome today, leading the way for us along with Mata (Celestina) Iupeli. We are looking forward to the days ahead.”Against William Jessup, San Diego Christian rallied twice to get the match even before finally falling in a dramatic tiebreaker. Set scores were 17-25, 28-26, 18-25, 25-21, 13-15.

The Hawks (6-3 overall, 2-2 GSAC) travel to Santa Clarita to face the Master’s. The first serve is set for 6 p.m. Live stream and stats are available at sdcchawks.com.