Outdoor Track Impresses at the Penn Relays, Continues Undefeated

The outdoor track team continues to roll....or sprint, I suppose. 

Or throw, jump, leap, and vault....all with relative impunity. 

The Hawks were pretty busy over the course of the past weekend and right through yesterday, as they traveled down to Philadelphia to compete in the prestigious Penn Relays, before coming home to take on Central, Cranston West, and Warwick Vets in their next dual meet.

Lee Moses enjoying the view from the field #pennrelays pic.twitter.com/JoGITT71mF
— BHHS T&F / XC (@BHHSXCTF) April 26, 2014

Coach Brennan reacted to the weekend's events:

listen to ‘Mr. Brennan’ on Audioboo

Down in Philly, the Hawks were impressive in going up against some of the nation's best track and field athletes. In the relays, both the 4 X 100 and 4 X 400 teams distinguished themselves. In the 4 X 100, the team of Nick Stravato, John Cute, Ronnie Gaynor, and Lee Moses clocked in with a time of 43.79, which can be seen here:

      

The 4 X 400 team also clocked in with an impressive time of 2:34.97, which was their season's best and good for a sixth-place finish in the field of 11.

4x400 has a season best 2:34.97 and finishes 6th in their heat of 11. Freshmen Kwity Paye splits 53.5. Power Kanga makes his comeback 52.4
— BHHS T&F / XC (@BHHSXCTF) April 26, 2014

Great run by the 4x400, video to follow pic.twitter.com/iHz6QE4xWy
— BHHS T&F / XC (@BHHSXCTF) April 26, 2014

Junior all-stater Lee Moses also continued his habit of phenomenal performances and used the Penn Relays as yet another platform to display his talents. In addition to playing his part on the 4 X 100 relay team, he also long jumped 22'1", while senior all-stater Colin Tierney turned in his usual top-shelf distance running by clocking in with a time of 8:37.2 in the 3000 meter run.

Action shot from today's 3000m at the penn relays featuring senior Colin Tierney #gohawks pic.twitter.com/eG611O6dXI
— BHHS T&F / XC (@BHHSXCTF) April 26, 2014

Lee actually made the Penn Relays slideshow on Facebook.

Lee Moses made the penn relays slideshow on Facebook #trackmamba pic.twitter.com/F4QqvD7deO
— BHHS T&F / XC (@BHHSXCTF) April 27, 2014

All the results from the Penn Relays can be seen HERE.

The Hawks took home the win in yesterday's regular-season dual meet by defeating Central (126-28), Cranston West (146.5-7.5), and Warwick Vets (140.5-13.5) 

There were plenty of noteworthy performances, led by the freshman 4 X 400 relay team of Kurt Rousseau, Kwity Paye, Justin Mazzulla, and Robert Merlino, all of whom helped to establish a new school record in that event, clocking in at 3:39.9. Tops in other runs were as follows: 

100 meter - Nick Stravato, 1st, 11.1 
200 meter - Lee Moses, 1st, 22.3 
800 meter - Hawks took the top seven places, led by Jared Boulanger's 204.4 
1500 meter - Hawks took the top four slots, led by Dom Parlatto's 4:18.4 
3000 meter - Hawks swept the top five, led by Nick Celico's 9:30.8 

Top performances also came in other events, namely the hurdles, the intermediate hurdles, pole vault, shot put, hammer and javelin. 

Gage Powell and Dan Medici finished 1-2 in the hurdles, Powell coming in at 16.6 and Medici at 16.9. It was Bob Merlino's performance in the intermediate hurdles that especially caught Coach Brennan's attention, as he won the event with an impressive time of 44.2. The pole vault largely belonged to the Hawks as well, as senior Nick Kelling went for 11 feet, and sophomore Jon Celico continued to garner attention by going for 10'6". 

Alex Cerbo, Eddie Barber, and Shane Olson rounded out the remaining top performances in the shot put (50'9"), the hammer (166'1"), and the javelin (144'4"), respectively. 

It was yet another solid, steady weekend of performances for the Hawks as they move on toward their goal of another banner for Pepin Gym at the end of May.

Winter Sports First-Team All-States

LAX Faces Off Against Moses Brown, Falls 12-9

There's no denying that during the course of the past 10-15 years or so, lacrosse has more and more become part of the mainstream on the landscape of both high school and collegiate sports. 

To have one of your contests broadcast live, right here on The Network, surely gives the sport all the validation it needs.



Yet another first was crossed off the list for our broadcast crew last night, as The Network brought Hawks LaCrosse to the people for the first time. Cam Brennan and Max Zweiner handled play-by-play and analysis duties, and considering that none of us have ever had the real opportunity to immerse ourselves in the world of LAX - to say nothing of broadcasting a game - Cam and Max did a bang-up job. Johnathan Feeny handled camera duties. 

Viewers can still watch the first half of the contest in the first Ustream box at the top of the page, and the first half can be seen right here:

            
Video streaming by Ustream

In falling to the Quakers, the Hawks are now 1-2 on the young season, having fallen to LaSalle 16-7 to open the season before knocking off Portsmouth in their second contest. The Providence Journal's slideshow from the contest against LaSalle can be seen HERE.

For about 2 1/2 quarters last night, the game largely belonged to Moses Brown. The Quakers seemed to use a combination of speed, a relentless attack on Ryan Williams (the Hawks' freshman goalie) and strong interior defense around their own net in building themselves a 12-5 lead. The Hawks fought hard early on, but just couldn't seem to stem the tide. One of our early goals can be seen here:



The Hawks were led by Jonathan Finelli, who tallied three goals and two assists. Ryan Williams recorded eight saves in net. 

The lacrosse team will next be in action tomorrow in New York, when they travel up that way to take on Guilderland High School at 11:00. The team returns to Rhode Island play on Tuesday, when they travel to Barrington to take on the Eagles. Game time is 7pm.

Offense Stays on Track, Downs Johnston, 11-1

In the modern-day world of things that are "trending now", two trends continued yesterday at Ray Pepin Field - shortened games and Gian Martellini's bat. 

In knocking off the Johnston Panthers yesterday afternoon and moving to 8-0, the Hawks have now outscored their past three opponents by a collective score of 44-4. Obviously, it remains to be seen whether that's a statement about the strength of our guys or the relative play of their opponents, but for now, it seems as if the Hawks are hitting a stride.

Yesterday's game was broadcast live right here on The Network (and, of course, we once again experienced wi-fi issues, something that's really getting old now, but we managed to piece it together on the fly), and as we pointed out at the beginning of the broadcast, the Hawks' scoring output is a welcome change from last year, when the team struggled to cross the plate for much of last season and largely rode the arm of Mike King. Now, with a strong but young pitching staff and an offense putting up crooked numbers virtually every other inning, much of last year's nail-biting seems to be a thing of the past. 

When sophomore John Willette singled home classmate Dante Baldelli with the team's 11th run in the bottom of the sixth, it marked the third consecutive contest in which the Hawks have invoked the "mercy" rule on their opponents (leading by 10 or more runs at the conclusion of five innings). Viewers can still watch the later portion of the game in the first Ustream box at the top of the page (though the quality isn't quite as good due to the reason mentioned above), and the earlier portion can be seen here:

            
Video streaming by Ustream

In addition to the third straight 10-run win for our guys, the other stories of the day were the wind (which forced us into the press box, rather than our usual roof-top perch in left-center field) and the continued hot bat of junior catcher Gian Martellini, who once again went 3 for 4, this time with two triples. Combine that output with his performance against Cranston East on Tuesday (3 for 4, two home runs - one of which was a grand slam), and Gian has accumulated 16 total bases in his last eight at-bats. 

That's slugging. 

John Willette helped in moving the line along by adding three hits and five RBI's out of the number nine spot in the order. 

On the pitching side of things, sophomore Matt Kennedy threw five strong innings, allowing only a single hit and an unearned run while striking out four. He did, however, walk five, something on which he needs to improve. Senior Christian Travers pitched a scoreless top of the sixth, yielding two hits but striking out two as well. 

Offensive stats for the game can be found below. 

The Hawks are in action next on Saturday, when they travel to Woonsocket to take on the Villa Novans, and then on Monday, when they go up to Lincoln for a re-match with the Lions. The Network will next broadcast Hawks Baseball on Wednesday, when they take on Cranston West at Pepin Field. Game time is 4pm.

Baseball, Gian Crush the 'Bolts, Go to 7-0

So far, so good...seven for seven in the two-time title defense, and the last two were by a collective score of 33-3. 

Combine that with the fact that the Hawks put nine runs up against one of the best pitchers in the state, LaSalle's CJ Dandaneau, and it's not too much of a stretch to say that it seems our guys won't have a lot of difficulty putting runs on the board this season. 

It was, however, Gian Martellini who lead the way yesterday, as he tallied three hits - including two home runs, one of which was a grand slam - and seven RBI's in the Hawks' 18-1, five inning win over East at Cranston Stadium. 

Some of Gian's highlights can be seen here - 

...rounding the bases following his first home run:


...a base hit:


...and the grand slam:



Seems somewhat appropriate that if there were a "t" at the end of Gian's name, we'd have the perfect face for the "Giant Part of the Order", as they say on Red Sox broadcasts. 

And, of course, speaking of broadcasts, The Network was on site, live, and in the booth yesterday, with Cam Brennan and Johnathan Feeny providing the play-by-play and analysis.



We did experience some wifi issues yesterday but were were able to resolve them in reasonably short order. Viewers can still watch the latter part of the game in the first UStream box at the top of the page, and the rest of the game can be seen here:

            
Video streaming by Ustream

            
Video streaming by Ustream

Dante Baldelli also chipped in with two hits, one of which was a line shot that was misplayed in center field. With Dante's speed, he was off to the races and touched 'em all:



McNasty Caffrey was his usual strong self, yielding only two hits while striking out five in his five innings on the mound, one of which can be seen here:



It seems, then, that with an offense apparently loaded for bear and a pitching staff that can be counted on to keep opponents in check as consistently as they have to this point, Coach Holloway and his staff can look forward to even better things as the season continues to unfold. 

The Hawks will be in action next tomorrow afternoon, Thursday the 24th, when the Johnston Panthers visit Pepin Field for a 4:00 game. The Network will be there for the live broadcast, high above left-center field. 

 STATS FOR THE GAME:

Hawks Take 4 1/2 innings to go to 6-0, Crush Saints, 15-2

Apparently, abbreviated games were the theme of yesterday afternoon.

On the more practical front, our baseball guys left zero room for discussion in their matchup with St. Ray's, invoking the mercy rule in pounding the Saints, 15-2.  Senior Anthony Graziano looked strong on the mound, and the Hawks' bats were ringing from the  moment they came to bat in the first inning.

On the more conceptual front, abbreviation was the name of the game as well, as the boys up in the broadcast booth experienced some technical difficulties that couldn't be immediately resolved, so we had to pack it up and call it a day fairly early.

As it turned out, the viewing audience didn't really miss a whole lot.

What little of the game made out into the broadcast world can still be seen in the first viewer at the top of the page.

On behalf of the entire Network crew, I extend our belated apologies.  Those issues should be resolved for our next broadcast, which will be Tuesday, Aprill 22nd, when the Hawks travel to Cranston East for a 3:45 contest.

One thing's for sure - with the direction in which the length of baseball games seems to be traveling these days, the occasional abbreviated game can sometimes be refreshing.

Just sayin'.

Outdoor Track Continues in the Fast Lane

Coming off their dominant dual-meet victory last Monday, our outdoor track & field Hawks suited up twice this week, planting another decisive dual-meet win over their opponents on Monday before once again putting up some spectacular finishes at the Injury Fund Class A Relays on Wednesday.

On Monday, our guys knocked off LaSalle, Toll Gate, and St. Pat's by respective scores of 116-38, 146-8, and 154-0.  Once again, the Hawks were led by Lee Moses, who was part of our wining four-man relay team (Stravato, Cute, Gaynor, and Moses), recorded an 11.0 in the 100-meter run and a 21'1 in the long jump.  Cute (11.4) and Stravato (11.5) also ran strong races in the 100-meter, and Gaynor ran 23.2 in the 200.  They were joined by Kurt Rousseau, who  ran an outstanding 54.1 for a freshman in the 400, while Colin Tierney was his usual, all-state self in the 1500, clocking in at 4:08.9.  Gage Powell dominated the hurdles, finishing with a time of 16.9, and Ben Murphy topped out in both the high jump and the triple jump.

In field events, sophomore Shane Olson threw the javelin 150 feet, and stalwarts John Celona (176'8) and Alex Cerbo (47'5) rang up the boards in the hammer and discus throws, respectively.

On Wednesday in the Injury Fund Class A Relays, the Hawks continued to ring the proverbial bell, as they finished first in the 4 X 100, 4 X 200, triple jump, shot put, high jump, and javelin, while finishing second in the distance mile relay and the discus.

So far. so good for outdoor track.  Another banner in the future?  Probably a good bet.

Volleyball Hangs First "W" on the Board, Downs Barrington 3-1

To this point, it's been a tough year for Coach Harrington and the volleyball team. 

As the schedule has unfolded - and assuming a full compliment of healthy players - we've come to see that this is a competitive team, albeit a fairly young one. With quite a few talented juniors on this year's squad, our guys may have to experience some growing pains while also possibly acknowledging that they may, in fact, be a year away. 

In our broadcasts here on The Network so far, we've seen a very competitive contest against LaSalle, but we've also seen our guys take it on the chin from Mt. St. Charles. Last night, however, despite some significant injuries - most notably to Jacob Eland and Ira Lough - our guys were able to score a fairly decisive victory over Barrington, three sets to one. The game was broadcast live right here on The Network, with Cam Brennan and Max Zweiner doing their usual first-rate job of play-by-play and analysis, and Johnathan Feeny handled camera duties.



Viewers can still watch the game - the latter portion is available in the first viewer at the top of the page, and the earlier portion can be seen right here:

            
Video streaming by Ustream

From the get-go, the Hawks seemingly had control of the game, taking the first two sets in reasonably quick fashion by scores of 25-8 and 25-21. With The Hawks on the verge of a three-game sweep, however, up 20-15 in the third set, the Eagles staged a furious comeback, outscoring our guys 10-2 the rest of the way to steal a 25-22 win. The Hawks recovered in the fourth set, though, and took the final set in reasonably convincing fashion. 

Some of the highlights from last night's contest can be seen here:









....and, of course, the winning point of the match:


So, with a young but talented core (and, unfortunately, some injuries as well), the Hawks look to build on this first win and a strong season.

Baseball Slugs the Rams, Goes to 5-0

So far, the baseball team's defense of its two state titles is perfect - five for five. 

Obviously, it does admittedly come across as somewhat jaded when we say that we've become more than a bit accustomed to undefeated baseball teams, but if we've come to understand anything about the players in our baseball program, they generally never take anything for granted. One thing that many baseball fans expected yesterday, however, was a tense, low-scoring game between our guys and LaSalle, the RIIL equivalent of Red Sox-Yankees. With the Hawks' Mike McCaffrey toeing the rubber against the Rams' very talented CJ Dandaneau, everyone in attendance - or, for that matter, viewing at home via the live broadcast on The Network - had every reason to think that they'd be witnessing a pitcher's duel.

                                   THE VIEW FROM THE NETWORK'S LOCATION

Not so much, as it turned out. 

The Hawks came out of the gate swinging, and by game's end their 14-hit attack was paced by Ryan Rotondo (three hits), John Toppa (two hits, including a double), Gian Martellini (two hits, double), Dante Baldelli (two hits, double) and John Willette (two hits out of the ninth spot in the order). While our guys were laying the bat on Rams' pitching, however, McCaffrey struggled a bit, yielding seven hits and lasting only three innings. Sophomore Matt Kennedy and senior Christian Travers finished the day out on the hill. 

Viewers can still watch the entire game, from beginning to end, right here.
 
            
Video streaming by Ustream
Stats follow this post.

The Hawks started fast, getting out to a 4-0 lead before the Rams began making some noise in the third inning, when they cut their deficit to 4-3. Our guys answered with a two-spot of their own in the bottom half of the third, and then the teams swapped three-run innings over the course of the remainder of the game, resulting in the Hawks' 9-6 win. 

The next baseball action will be tomorrow, Wednesday, when the Hawks take on North Providence at 4pm at Pepin Field, and then again on Thursday, when St. Ray's pays us a visit, also at 4pm. As of right now, both games will be broadcast LIVE, right here on The Network. Johnathan Feeny, Cam Brennan, and Stone Freeman are scheduled to handle play-by-play and analysis duties for tomorrow's game, and Matt Rowlands, Nick Bianco, and Remy Morris are on tap for Thursday. 

Be sure to tune in - not only will you get to see some quality Hawks baseball, but you'll also get to listen to some steady, reliable, play-by-play from our guys in the booth, along with some - well - let's just say 'interesting' commentary.

 #GOHAWKS.

LET’S HEAR IT FOR FREEDOM FEET

Amy Purdy, Executive Director Daniel Gale and Evan Strong

Freedom Innovations, makers of prosthetic feet for Champion Parasnowboarders, helped bring two AAS Team Members to the US National Parasnowboard Team . . . and onto the podium in the inaugural Para-Snoboardcross event at the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi Russia.

Gold Medalist Evan Strong and Bronze winner Amy Purdy were among those supported, in part, by a grant to AAS from Freedom Innovations.  The grant also partially supported AAS training for up-and-coming Parasnowboarders Jay Gaines and Andrew Hale, who are targeting the Paralympics in 2018. Andrew placed third in the USASA Nationals Sport Class this season. Additionally resident athlete Arlene Cohen wore Freedom Innovations feet throughout her competition season and successfully placed first at the USASA Nationals as well!

Congrats to all of the AAS riders on there successful season supported by Freedom Feet!

Left to Right - Andrew Hale, James Sides, Arlene Cohen, Sandra Ambotaite and Diane Musgrove

Unified Basketball Plays Hard but Falls to Toll Gate, 55-46

Antonio Piccarillo 's new nickname should be "Silk"....Silk Pilc.

Time and again throughout Thursday afternoon's game against Toll Gate, Antonio could be seen streaking downcourt, leading the Hawks' fast break and smoothly dropping in layup after layup.  To be honest, Antonio almost single-handedly kept our guys in the game, a game that we eventually dropped to the Titans, 55-46.

Antonio dropped 32 points on the Titans.
Yes, you read that correctly...32 points.

Immediately after the game, Antonio reacted to his incredible performance:

listen to ‘Antonio Piccirillo’ on Audioboo

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as throughout the contest, the Titans routinely managed to create some separation between themselves and the Hawks on the scoreboard, only to see our guys fight their way back into the game and then once again lose ground.  In the end, it was just a bit too much of a hill for the Hawks to climb.

It should also be noted that this was the first Unified basketball contest ever broadcast live on The Network. Max Zweiner did a bang-up job in his first extended duty behind the mic as a play-by-by play man, and he was joined for expert analysis from Mr. Monahan, who knows basketball and has extensive experience with the Unified program and Special Olympics.

Other Hawks who made significant contributions were Chris Zimmerly and Austin Crawford (six points each), and Matt Mangilli even splashed the net for a bucket of his own. 

The Unified Hawks will play next at Cranston West, this Wednesday, April 16th, at 3:30 pm.

Baseball Downs Cranston West, Goes to 2-0

Yes, it's quite early in the season, but around here at Hendricken, we sometimes become jaded by the prospect of undefeated teams, to say nothing of undefeated baseball teams. Coming out of the baseball gate 2-0, then, isn't much about which to get excited, nor should we take it for granted.

Yesterday's game is a perfect case in point.  For 6 1/2 innings yesterday, the outcome still very much hung in the balance, as the Hawks were clinging to a 4-3 lead.  When our guys came to bat in the top of the seventh, however, they finally managed to put the issue to rest by plating seven runs en route to an 11-3 victory.  The Providence Journal's slideshow from the game can be seen HERE.

The Hawks travel to Cumberland this afternoon to take on the always-dangerous Clippers at 4pm.

Off the Blocks Fast with Outdoor Track

To this point, spring sports coverage here at The Network has been, admittedly, somewhat sparse, despite the fact that there are seemingly more spring sports than one might care to count.  With baseball, volleyball, lacrosse, golf, tennis, unified basketball, rugby, sailing, and outdoor track all on the table, it will - at some point - be difficult to know where to look first.

So far, we've offered up some coverage of baseball, unified basketball, and volleyball, but now it's time to swing our spotlight onto the auspicious beginning for the outdoor track team, which, on Saturday, competed in the Knights of Columbus Relay and then on Monday in their first dual meet of the spring.

In the K of C relay, the Hawks' victory was sparked by their performance in the 4 X mile race, the four legs of which were run by Avery Ingegneri, Grant Gauthier, Michael Potter, and Colin Tierney.  In fact, it was Colin's other-worldly performance on the back leg that won it for the Hawks, as his 4:23.8 mile helped our guys overcome LaSalle's nine-second lead in the latter part of the race.  It was truly an unbelievable come-from-behind win.

On Monday our guys went up against Classical, Hope, and Cranston East in their first dual meet of the spring season.  The Hawks came out on top 100-54, 147-7, and 154-0 in respective fashion.  The win over Classical was especially noteworthy, since they're one of the Hawks' big divisional rivals and will, no doubt, provide some serious competition down the road.

While there were obviously a lot of quality performances from our guys, the Hawks were first and foremost led by the incomparable Lee Moses, who competed in four events and won them all.  Lee won the 100 meter with a time of 10.9, the 200 (22.7), the long jump (20'3), and was also part of the winning 4 X 100 meter relay team.

Other performances that paved the way for the Hawks were turned in by Colin Tierney in the 1500 meter (1st place, 4:09.1), Dom Parlato in the 3000 (1st, 9:14.3), and Alex Cerbo in the shot put (49 feet).

So, with a cross-country state title during the fall season in the bag and a respectable (but somewhat disappointing) third-place finish at the indoor states behind them, the outdoor Hawks seem to have picked up right where they left off.

Baseball Opens Defense of Title with Win over Lincoln

The four major sports in America - football, baseball, basketball, and hockey - all have their rabid fans and their great moments. It's a good bet, though, that you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who says that opening day in any of the other three compares to baseball's Opening Day, whether it's little league, Babe Ruth, Major League Baseball, or any level in between. 

There's just something that's undefinable about it...maybe it's just that it has a distinctly American feel to it, or it's just that if you try real hard, you can almost taste the summer. No matter how you try to explain it or slice it, it's just a great day, no matter the result of the game or the weather. 

Ah, yes...the weather. 

While The Red Sox were playing their home opener and receiving their world championship rings 50 miles north of us, our baseball Hawks opened their regular season slate by downing the Lincoln Lions, 6-0. As typical of March and early April on the grounds of Ray Pepin Field, it was windy, raw, and cold. In fact, this was a quasi-historic occasion, as The Network broadcast its first-ever baseball game, and for the event we selected what we believed to be the best location and angle, which was on the lower part of the Pepin Gym roof. As viewers can see by watching the game, the angle and broadcast were pretty solid for a first crack at it....



....but my God, it was cold up there. 

Don't ever try that at home, kids. Or at Hendricken, for that matter. 

The latter part of the game can be seen in the first viewer at the top of the page, and the larger portion can be seen here -

            
Video streaming by Ustream

Naturally, Network stalwarts Cam Brennan and Stone Freeman were there to call the action and provide analysis, and Max Zweiner handled Instagram highlights and some of the camera work. 

The season-opening win was sparked by the pitching of Mike ("McNasty") McCaffrey (5 2/3 innings of relatively dominant pitching - six scattered hits, two walks, eight strikeouts), an offensive outburst and some shaky Lincoln defense in the first two innings that netted the Hawks all the runs they would need. Some of those highlights can be seen here:






As the game moved into its latter stages and it appeared that McCaffrey may have been tiring, Coach Holloway brought in sophomore Matt Kennedy to throw water on any possible issues. Kennedy closed out the game, preserved the shutout, and punched out three of his recorded four outs in 1 1/3 innings of work. 

On the whole, then, it was a good day for the Hawks - a solid opening win, and the game ran at a fairly brisk pace, finishing in just about two hours. 

Brisk...that doesn't even begin to explain it.

Hendricken Winter Sports Video for 2013-'14

      

The Network Opens the Spring Sports Season with Volleyball

The winter sports season is officially behind us, and we can look back with satisfaction at it successes, especially the next two state championship banners that will be hoisted to the Pepin Gym rafters, courtesy of the wrestling and basketball teams. Now, it's onto coverage of all things Spring...and last night, we here at The Network got things rolling with volleyball. 

How about this? Is there a better way to start our coverage of spring sports than with a Hendricken-LaSalle grudge match? Okay, it might not initially have the full-frontal combat feel of football and basketball - but, hey - when it comes right down to it, Hawks-Rams will always be Hawks-Rams. 

Unfortunately, the Maroon came out on top last night. LaSalle won in four sets, 3-1, winning the first, third, and fourth matches 25-23, 26-24, and 25-11, while the Hawks took the second, 25-22. Network stalwarts Stone Freeman and Cam Brennan called all the action live, and the entire contest can be seen right here.

            
Video streaming by Ustream

            
Video streaming by Ustream

            
Video streaming by Ustream

            
Video streaming by Ustream

On the whole, the entire contest was very competitive, as the scores of the first three matches attest. The Rams did not, however, leave anything to chance in the fourth and final match, scoring early and often and simply leaving the Hawks in a position from which it would have been quite difficult to come back. Some Hawk highlights can be seen here:















The Hawks played well, as Lough, Flaherty, and Eland were easily the Hawks' most dominant front line of the night. Flaherty led the team in kills, but Eland's back spasms coming into the game somewhat affected his play, and by extension, the Hawks as a team. Nate Gyampo also rolled an ankle during the middle portion of the game. 

The Hawks are in action next tomorrow night, when they take on Mount St. Charles at Pepin Gym at 6:30. That contest will also be broadcast live, right here on The Network.