Senior Dionna Kirton is one of the leaders on the team with 75 kills this season. Courtesy of HartfordHawks.com

This past weekend, the University of Hartford women’s volleyball team participated in the Art Carmichael Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island.

Although the Hawks played hard they fell to both the University of Texas-El Paso Miners and the host team, the University of Rhode Island Rams.

The University of Hartford volleyball team dropped a three-set decision to the University of Texas-El Paso in the opening day of the Art Carmichael Invitational.

The Hawks were led by senior Dionna Kirton and freshman Corinne Horanzy who each finished with six kills.

Following Kirton and Horanzy in leading the Hawks was junior Maya Louis who finished with four kills while Jackie Tamburri, Lindsay Anderson and Sareeta Nethersole contributed with three kills.

As a team, Hartford had 31 kills and 16 errors in 102 total attacks.

Tamburri finished the match with 23 assists.

Defensively, Hartford was led by rookie libero Paola Llerandi who finished with 11 digs.

Kirton followed her with 10 digs.

The Hawks also finished with four total blocks, led by Anderson and Nethersole who each finished with two blocks, one solo block and one block assist apiece.

On day two, the Hawks looked to rebound against the host team, the Rhode Island Rams.

After dropping the opening set to the host Rams by a 25-17 score, Hartford came back to take a 2-1 match advantage with a 26-20 victory in set two and a 25-21 victory in the third set.

The Hawks saw their best hitting come in the second match as the collected 11 kills and six errors, while holding the Rams to 10 kills and nine errors.

In the second and third set combined, Nethersole collected eight of her 13 total kills.

Nethersole was one of two Hawks to record a double double in the match, adding a team-best 16 digs to her credit.

Following Nethersole in leading the Hawks was sophomore Chandler Goodwin who finished with nine kills, while Lindsay Anderson and Maya Louis each added six kills.

Overall, the Hawks finished with 45 kills and 28 errors.

Hawks setter Jackie Tamburri also finished with a double double, collecting 29 assists while tying Nethersole in leading the team with 16 digs.

The Hawks also had 10 blocks with Anderson leading the team with seven total, two solo blocks and five block assists.

The Hawks will return to action as they take the short drive to Central Connecticut to partake in the Blue Devil Invitational this weekend.

They will be facing the Blue Devils on Friday to start off the tournament at 4 p.m.

Then they will be taking on Fordham and NJIT on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.