The Envoy

Full Mar. 22 episode of “Hawk Athletics” by David Horn.

Following a tumultuous winter season, the Hawks fell below Baruch in the Commissioner’s Cup standings.

After a big start to the winter, with women’s swimming and diving making their conference win look effortless, four Hawk’s teams lost their regular season and playoffs. Baruch surged up the Commissioners Cup leaderboard during this time, and with their recent victory over Hunter’s men’s volleyball team, they are poised to extend the gap even further.

Looking to get back on track, this past week men’s volleyball played three CUNYAC games, and women’s softball played another same day back-to-back against Montclair State University.

David Horn was joined on WHCS Radio by men’s volleyball coach Chris Shortgen and player Sergio Aguado as they aim to take down Baruch in their meeting next week.

Men’s Volleyball

After their impressive 15-0 set record in their first five CUNYAC games, they fell last week in a heart-wrenching five-set thriller against Lexington Ave. rivals Baruch College.

In their three matches this week, they put up big numbers again, beating City College, York College, and Lehman College all by scores of 3-0. They remain undefeated in sets against conference teams bar Baruch.

The most impressive player for the Hawks this week was sophomore middle blocker Matisse Lee-Marek. CUNY again awarded him the CUNYAC Player of the Week award on Mar. 18, making this the second time this season he has been given the title 

Hunter’s only scare during this period came in their second set against Lehman. The latter took a 24-22 lead, only needing one point to make the set score 1-1. However, the Hawks scored four points in a row, with senior setter Cooper Moran assisting all three of Hunter’s kills to finish a tense set.

Guest of the Week: Chris Schortgen

Chris Schortgen, who has an extensive career in coaching, started his head coaching role for the Hawks in 2022.

“I got a call from John Garrett,” Schortgen said. “They held onto my resume from when I applied years ago to coach the women’s program and called me to help get it back started post-COVID and rebuild the program.”

Under his leadership, men’s volleyball has only lost one conference game over the last two seasons, and Schortgen was named coach of the year in both seasons. This would already be enough to call the program a success for most coaches, but Schortgen thinks differently.

“It doesn’t really matter what we’ve done over the past two years,” Schortgen said. “The new players outnumber the old players, so we’re reintroducing and starting the culture again.”

The influx of new players can be attributed to one major flaw plaguing the Hawks over the last two years: Despite their immense regular season success, Hunter has not won the CUNYAC playoffs.

“It’s gonna have to change,” Shortgen said. “We’re excited for it.”

And with seniors Cooper Moran, Ted Kim, and Onyeka Onaga all graduating this semester, Schortgen wants to give them a proper send-off.

“They put in the work, they’re culture guys, it’d be great for them, you know,” Schrotgen said. “They’ve helped me from day one, walking in here, not knowing what things are. They’ve been as much a part (of growing the program as) the coaching staff.”

“So now we really want [to win] for their story in their senior year.”

Guest of the Week: Sergio Aguado

Sergio Aguado, a sophomore and libero on the men’s volleyball team had an even more unconventional way of joining the Hawks. Originally from the Canary Islands in Spain, he falls into the 5% of Hunter students that come from overseas.

“I knew I wanted to come to the U.S. to study, but I didn’t even think of New York,” Aguado said. “Until the last week [of applications], I didn’t hear of Hunter College.”

But when the opportunity to join Hunter presented itself, Aguado went for it.

“I was expecting a different college life,” said Aguardo. “[Hunter] was even better than what I was expecting. It’s very different from what I’m used to in Spain. There are more villages instead of a big city. I love the change.”

Although there is one challenge that does come with moving across the Atlantic.

“Of course, you miss home when you’re so far away,” Aguardo said. “Because it’s [the] season, you can’t just leave for a break or something.”

However, this sacrifice has helped Aguardo see a lot of improvement in the Hunter squad on the court. 

“I think we have a much stronger team than last year, we got a lot of new players, a lot of potential young people,” Aguardo said. “Very young team, tall, very athletic, I’ve seen the difference in practices, [they’ve] been much more intense. Everyone wants to get on the court but not everyone can. You gotta earn it this year.”

And echoing what Schortgen said, Aguardo sees this year as the one Hunter wins the championship.

“Last year it was a concentration problem,” Aguardo said. “Everyone has ups and downs. We got to use their gowns and make it a huge difference for us.”

Women’s Softball

Women’s softball faced Montclair University in a doubleheader on Mar. 19. In their previous 26 meetings, Hunter had only won once against Montclair in 2017. As clear underdogs, the Hawks were looking for some magic to get their first win for the season.

The first game went as the records suggest. Montclair dominated Hunter, who were shutout for the first time this season. The final score of 8-0 did not bode well for the Hawks in their next game two hours later.

In the following game, the Hawks completely turned the tables on Montclair. Scoreless through the first three innings. Hunter scored in the fourth to grab a 1-0 lead, and they managed a complete shutout of Montclair through the seven innings, something no Hunter team had ever done.

Junior pitcher Alyssa Curiale shone during the impressive display. She tallied seven strikeouts in her shutout performance, driving in a run as well.

The final score of 2-0 was a statement for the Hawks, who sat last in the standings before these games despite being joint-first in the pre-season predictions.

For her play against Stevens last week, pitcher Grace Basil was awarded the CUNYAC Pitcher of the Week Award on Mar. 18 

Looking Ahead

Next week’s coverage will feature men’s volleyball’s anticipated rematch with Baruch College in a match that will decide the first spot in the conference going into the playoffs.

Women’s softball has another double-header against Ramapo College, who boast an impressive 9-3 record, and will be another good test for the Hawks.

David Horn will be joined on the WHCS radio by head coach of the softball team Ralph Moroni and two-time CUNYAC men’s volleyball All-Star Ted Kim.