HAMMOND, Ind. - The #19 Hawks took a brief brake from their GLVC schedule for the Midwest Region Crossover, taking on a pair of foes from neighboring conference in the region. QU came away victorious in both of it's matches on Friday (Oct. 18), defeating Tiffin out of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in three sets (25-11, 26-24, 26-24) before sweeping the Huskies of Michigan Tech out of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athelic Conference (25-19, 25-18, 25-21) to extend the teams' win-streak to nine matches. 

Match One vs Tiffin

Set One

The Hawks got off on the right foot to kick off the set, doubling up the Dragons in the early going to a 10-5 score. Shortly after at 11-8, a five-point QU run featuring kills from Emma Wijnbergen, Erin Matzke and Luna Van Baars along with a Susanna Beretti ace pushed the advantage to 16-8. 

Quincy didn't take its foot off the pedal, using another five-point run later in the set to bust the set open 21-9 before going on to close out a 25-11 winner in the first on a Van Baars ace. 

Set Two 

Tiffin responded to the first set loss with a 7-0 run to open the second set, pressing the lead to as many as eight at 9-1 before the Hawks started their comeback. Run's of four, three and two points in the next 11 points powered Quincy right back into the set, now trailing by only a point at 11-10. 

TU worked its way back to a four-point edge and maintained it up to the 20-16 mark where yet another five-point run from QU vaulted the Hawks ahead 21-20 heading down the stretch. Moments later, Quincy forced set point at 24-23, prompting a Dragons point before a Tiffin error and a Wijnbergen kill claimed a hard-fought 26-24 victory in the second set. 

Set Three

Neither side created much separation from one another until a five-point QU run put the Hawks ahead 10-7. Quincy maintained a narrow advantage throughout the middle of the set, finally surrendering the advantage on a six-point Tiffin run to put the Dragons ahead 23-20. 

QU responded with a four-point run of its own to force match point at 24-23 before TU evened the tally at 24-24. Just as they did in the second set, the Hawks got the final two points to claim the set 26-24, this time on kills from Wijnbergen and Van Baars for a 3-0 sweep of the match. 

Match Leaders: 
20 Kills, 16 Digs - Emma Wijnbergen
36 Assists - Elena Kasavica
2 Blocks - Erin Matzke, Zeynep Cetin

Match Two vs Michigan Tech 

Set One 

The first set was very tightly contested for the first half as neither side was able to build a lead larger than two points until a five-point QU run at the 14-13 mark gave the Hawks the largest lead of the set at 18-14. Kills from Cetin and Van Baars along with an ace from Wijnbergen powered the run. 

MTU hung around, but never ventured closed than three points for the remainder of the set at Quincy closed out a 25-19 with a Wijnbergen kill and a pair of Husky errors. 

Set Two 

QU got it rolling early, taking six of the first seven points of the set before going on to build a 10-3 advantage shortly after. Quincy continued to further the advantage as the set drew on, building the lead to as many as 11 points on a four-point run to make it 19-8. 

Michigan Tech showed signs of life late in the set, cutting the QU lead back down to just six points at 21-15, but it was too little too late as Quincy went on to take the second set 25-18. 

Set Three

The Huskies got off to a hot start to the third set, building a five-point advantage at the 11-6 mark. Later in the set, a three-point QU run on a kill from Wijnbergen and a kill and ace for Beretti drew Quincy within two at 13-11. 

Shortly after trailing 16-14, a five-point Hawks run hoisted QU back into the lead 19-16. MTU threatened on multiple occasions down the stretch, narrowing the margin to one at 20-19 and two at 23-21, but ultimately it wasn't meant to be as a Wijnbergen kill and Beretti ace sealed a 25-21 set and 3-0 match win. 

Match Leaders: 
14 Kills - Emma Wijnbergen
35 Assists - Elena Kasavica
3 Blocks - Erin Matzke
14 Digs - Janelle Pye-Blacknard

Next Up 

The Hawks await their final opponent for the Midwest Region Crossover tomorrow (Oct. 19), which has yet to be announced at the time of this writing.