ROLLA, Mo. – The Hawks traveled to the Miners of Missouri S&T to open their GLVC conference slate for the 2023 season on Friday evening (Sep. 22). QU began league play with a thrilling five set victory over the Miners (25-17, 23-25, 20-25, 25-23, 17-15) to start off on the right foot at 1-0.
 
Set One:
 
Quincy got out to an early lead, taking advantage of Miner errors along with plenty of QU kills to take a 9-5 advantage. Later in the set up 10-9, the Hawks used two three-point runs encompassing an S&T timeout to grab six of the next seven points and a 16-10 lead. Consecutive kills from Erin Matzke along with a kill from Emma Wijnbergen fueled the second run.
 
QU kept its foot on the gas, pressing the lead to as many as 10 at 23-13 on a kill from Alice Pavan. Shortly after, Susanna Beretti finished off the final kill in a 25-17 win in the first set. The Hawks outhit their opponent by .250 while holding them to a .000 hitting percentage.
 
Set Two:
 
The first four points of the second set went in the Hawks favor. Kills from Beretti and Wijnbergen along with an error made it 4-0. S&T fired back, retaking the lead at 7-5, before a five-point run from QU vaulted them back into the front 10-7.
 
Quincy continued to build the lead, stretching it to five at 19-14, until the Miners flipped the script, erasing the deficit to knot the score at 22-22. S&T used two kills and an error to take three of the last four points and a 25-23 victory in set two.
 
Set Three:
 
In contrast to the previous set, it was Missouri S&T that took the early advantage at 6-3. The Hawks fought back to take regain the lead later in the set at 13-12 on a Wijnbergen kill. Both sides battled back and forth through the midway part of the frame.
 
Tied at 17-17, QU used a three-point run to take a late 20-17 lead, prompting an S&T timeout. Following the timeout, the Miners ran the table, taking the final eight points of the set and a 25-20 set win.
 
Set Four:
 
Looking to take down QU in four sets, Missouri S&T took an early lead once again, this time jumping ahead by five at 10-5. The Hawks closed the gap to two at 14-12 on a kill from Wijnbergen.
 
The Miners answered, taking the next three points to replenish the lead to five at 17-12. Quincy responded with a four-point run to draw back within one at 17-16, bringing on an S&T timeout.
 
Both sides went tit-for-tat until the Hawks used a three-point run down 22-21 on a service error and back-to-back blocks from Wijnbergen and Pavan to make it 24-22. A kill for the Miners followed by a service error gave Quincy a 25-23 set winner and 2-2 tie in the match.
 
Set Five:
 
Missouri S&T took a four-point lead at 5-1 in the early going of the 15-point fifth set. The Hawks roared back to tie it at 7-7 on kills from Wijnbergen, Van Baars and Pavan along with an error.
 
S&T took a three-point lead at 13-10 before the Hawks answered with a three-point run to tie it back up at 13-13. Two kills from Wijnbergen and a block from Van Baars and Matzke fueled the run.
 
Quincy took two of the next three to lead it 15-14, forcing a timeout from Missouri S&T. The Miners came out of the timeout with a kill before the Hawks took the final two points of the match, a kill from Van Baars and an S&T error to close out a thrilling 17-15 five set victory.
 
The Hawks have a quick turnaround, getting back in action tomorrow afternoon (Sep. 23) for another GLVC showdown, taking on the Saints of Maryville University. The match is slated for a 3:00 P.M start.