GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart College volleyball team opened up the 2024 Hobart Volleyball Tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Penn St. Behrend for its first home win in program history this afternoon. The Statesmen move to 3-1 on the season while the Lions open up their season at 0-1. Penn St. Behrend fell 3-0 to St. Norbert College in the following match to fall to 0-2 on the season.

Graduate student Andrew Kim led Hobart with 16 kills on 26 swings, hitting an impressive .500 in the sweep. With his third kill of the day, Kim surpassed the 1,000 career kill mark, making him the first Statesmen in program history to achieve this milestone. Kim added six digs, four service aces and one assist in the win.

First-year Anthony Zontini added eight kills, hitting .438, while classmates Nate Magni (.400) and Grayson Getz (.200) chipped in five kills each out of the middle.

Daniel Easly led Penn St. Behrend with seven kills, hitting .357 in the loss. He added three digs and one service ace for the Lions.
  
MATCH MOMENTS:

• The Statesmen came out firing to open the match behind back-to-back kills from Kim. The Lions fought back to tie the game twice early on, but Hobart grabbed the momentum to extend its lead throughout the set. Despite 13 kills and a .310 hitting percentage by the Lions in the opening set, Hobart finished on top 25-20 with 16 kills as a team and a .556 hitting percentage.
• Hobart and Penn St. Behrend traded the early points in set two, forcing 12 tie scores and five lead changes until the Statesmen started to pull away at the 10-10 mark. Hobart would score seven of the next nine points to grab a comfortable lead which led to a convincing 25-18 win in set two.
• In a must-win set for the Lions, Penn St. Behrend fought back for the closest set of the match. The Lions outhit the Statesmen .208 compared to .148, but Hobart found points from the service line and two big blocks to close out the third on top 25-22, completing the sweep.

PLAYER PERSPECTIVE:

 

MATCH STATS:

• Kim led Hobart with 16 kills (.500), while Zontini added eight (.438). Magni (.400) and Getz (.200) chipped in five kills each.
• First-year setter Zack Farren recorded 30 assists and two digs through three sets.
• Hobart continued to show strong from the service line and served seven aces compared to the Lions three. Kim led the way with four while Zontini, Magni and first-year Daniel Sappia added one each.
• The Statesmen played a scrappy game defensively, recording 27 digs as a team compared to Penn St. Behrend's 20. Zontini recorded a match-high seven digs while Kim and first-year libero Gavin Meador chipped in six each.

COACHES CORNER:



UP NEXT:
 
The Statesmen will be back in action tomorrow, Jan. 20, for the second day of the 2024 Hobart Tournament. Hobart will take on St. Norbert College at 10 a.m. and will conclude its action-packed weekend with a match against Carlow University at 4 p.m. in Bristol Gymnasium.