Box
Score
St. Mary's City, Md. - Outside hitters
Sarah Gregorini (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial)
and Claire Kodan (Olney, Md./Sherwood) combined
for 23 kills in leading the St. Mary's College of Maryland
volleyball team to a 3-1 victory over Marymount (Va.) University
Tuesday night in the Capital Athletic Conference opener for both
teams.
Gregorini notched a match-best 12 kills along
with eight digs, one service ace, and one block assist, while
Kodan registered her seventh double-double on 11
kills and 14 digs as well as two service aces and two block
assists.
Middle blockers Jen Lamar (Collegeville,
Pa./Spring-Ford) and Gena Hlavinka (Gaithersburg,
Md./T.S. Wootton) were a wall at the net for the Seahawks (5-4, 1-0
CAC), joining forces for nine total blocks as
Lamar tallied a pair of block solos and three
block assists and Hlavinka had four block assists.
Freshman libero Cecilia Blanc (Laytonsville,
Md./Poolesville) and junior setter Katie Obal
(Olney, Md./Sherwood) put forth a strong defensive effort with 12
and 11 digs, respectively. Obal also dished
out 39 assists and served a pair of aces.
The Seahawks claimed a 25-14 victory in the first set after
jumping out to an 11-2 lead, forcing Marymount (4-4, 0-1 CAC) to
take a timeout and regroup. The closest the Saints came to
catching the home team in the first set was 12-6.
St. Mary's survived seven ties and three lead changes to post a
25-22 win in the second set. The Seahawks overcame a 6-2
deficit to notch their first lead at 10-9. A service ace by
Obal sent the set into a 21-21 draw and SMCM
closed it out on a 4-1 spurt for the victory.
Marymount (4-4, 0-1 CAC) claimed a 25-21 win in the third to
force a fourth set. The Saints rallied from a 10-5 deficit
behind four kills from junior middle hitter Kierra
Nelson (Martinsburg, W.Va./N. Hagerstown).
The Seahawks came out in full force in the final set, cruising
to an 11-4 lead before recording a 25-12 win.
Nelson paced the Saint offense with nine kills,
while contributing three digs and three block assists on
defense. Freshman outside hitter Michelle
McCormick (Charlotte Hall, Md./LaPlata) notched 16 digs
and chipped in six kills and one service ace.
The Seahawks will return to action this Saturday, September 19
as St. Mary's hosts a tri-match with Goucher College and DeSales
University. SMCM will take on Goucher first at 11:00 a.m.
followed by DeSales at 3:00 p.m.
Marymount's next action will be Saturday as well at a quad match
hosted by Catholic University.
