St. Mary's City, Md. - In the opening rounds of the Third Annual Seahawk Volleyball Invitational, St. Mary's College of Maryland posted a 2-0 record with 3-0 sweeps of Roanoke College and Baruch College.  The Seahawks improved to 26-6 with tonight's two victories.

Chowan University (22-9) also went 2-0 in the first day of competition with a 3-1 win over Eastern Mennonite University (10-21) and a sweep of John Jay College (10-19).  EMU finished 1-1 on the day, while John Jay went 0-2.

Tomorrow, St. Mary's will face Eastern Mennonite at 10:00 am before taking on John Jay at noon.

St. Mary's 3, Roanoke 0 (Box Score)
The Seahawks picked up a hard fought 3-0 (30-24, 30-27, 31-29) victory against Roanoke (18-12).  Sophomore Katie Ewing (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) led the SMCM attack with 12 kills while freshman Katie Obal (Olney, Md./Sherwood) added 10. 

Obal also paced the defense with 20 digs, while sophomore Sarah Gregorini (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) picked up 15 and junior Jackie Reid (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) had 11.

The Maroons went on to finish the day with a 1-1 mark after handing Baruch a 3-0 setback.  Erin Burnop commanded the Roanoke offense against St. Mary's with 15 kills, while Caitlyn Long kept 28 attempts off the floor.

St.Mary's 3, Baruch 0 (Box Score)
St. Mary's easily swept Baruch (17-19) by scores of 30-13, 30-10, 30-24.  The Hawks used a balanced attack in the win as Ewing and freshman Claire Kodan (Olney, Md./Sherwood) each tallied nine kills, while Gregorini and junior Becca Tursell (Ellicott City, Md./Glenelg) had seven kills apiece. 

Tursell controlled the net with eight total blocks (two solo and six assists).  As a team, the Hawks served up 14 service aces with Obal collecting five of those.

Nicole Baruffaldi and Lizmarie Vasquez helped Baruch defensively with 13 and 11 digs, respectively.  Baruch went 0-2 on the day.