At the half way mark in the 2023 volleyball season, HCC is posting an overall record of 6-2. This is a huge change from last year, when the season was canceled in late September due to injuries and diminished roster size after completing just 3 matches. Second year Head Coach, Sierra Hill, joined Hagerstown Community College Athletics in August 2022, knowing it was an uphill climb to pull off the season. Despite the shortened schedule, she vigorously recruited in the off-season and assembled a roster of freshmen from Washington County, MD, Berkeley County, WV, and Franklin County, PA.
After a scrimmage and two matches in August, the Hawks went on the road to Perrysburg, OH to play in the Owens Express Invitational. NJCAA teams from the northeastern sector of the NJCAA were represented, and competition at this invitational is always strong. Hagerstown faced St. Clair Community College to start the weekend, on the morning of September 1st, battling throughout the match, but losing late in the fifth set 3-2. Vincennes University JVs beat Hagerstown 3-0 that afternoon, and Coach Sierra Hill's impression of the two day trip was "We competed the whole time, back and forth, and it was nice to see how we would fight until the end. Day two was even better, as we took that energy into the next two matches and came out with wins." Hill continued, "Owens was the beginning of the team playing at a different level and getting a sense of who they are and what they can accomplish."
Returning to conference games, Hagerstown traveled to Frederick CC on Saturday, September 9th, and defensivley the Hawks were relentless with Everly Harsh (12) and Kylie Hahn (2) each scoring 11 digs, and Hahn offering 24 assists. Close behind, Paige Elliott (4) and Alexis Mackrell (11) each had 7 digs, bringing their own energy to the gym in transition. Offensively, Hagerstown changed things up and it payed off with Kayla Turner (14) leading the team with 13 kills off of 21 attempts, Kylie Snyder (6) 6 kills off of 10 attempts, and Delaney Long (7) with 6 kills off of 24 attempts.
This past Tuesday, Hagerstown was on the road again to La Plata, to face the College of Southern Maryland. Both teams came into the match undefeated in the conference, and CSM got ahead of Hagerstown 0-3 in the first set. Rally by rally the Hawks pulled back into the set, and evened the score at 4-4. The set continued point for point with Hagerstown winning 25-19. In the second set, the Hawks kept the energy high with Kylie Snyder and Delaney Long making a huge block, and rallying to push the score to 13-8. CSM starting creeping back in on Hawk errors, until the score was eventually tied at 18-18. After a timeout, the Hawks regrouped, and fought to win the set 25-22. The back and forth play continued through the third set, with Hagerstown down 6-2 and fighting back, capitalizing on CSM errors. HCC came out on top 25-23, and earned a 3-0 sweep. Defensively, Delaney Long led with 15 digs, followed by Everly Harsh with 14, Kylie Hahn with 10 and 23 assists, and Alexis Mackrell with 10 digs on the night. Offensively, Kayla Turner led the team in kills with 9 off of 11 attempts, Delaney Long and Kylie Snyder each had 6 kills, and Turner and Snyder each had 5 blocks. "This was a great match," commented Coach Hill, "we knew going in this was going to be a battle, and it ended up being a big night for our team!"
Hagerstown plays at 1:00 a.m. tomorrow against the Anne Arundel CC Riverhawks, and again at 3:00 p.m. against the Garrett College Lakers, in a tri-match hosted by HCC at the ARCC.
To follow Hawks Volleyball visit https://athletics.hagerstowncc.edu/sports/wvball/index
Go Hawks!