Box Score
Owings Mills, Md. – Senior outside hitter Claire Kodan (Olney, Md./Sherwood) posted her eighth double-double of the season in leading the St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball team to a five-set victory over host Stevenson University Wednesday night in Capital Athletic Conference action.
With tonight's Seahawk victory and York College of Pennsylvania's loss at Salisbury University, St. Mary's (20-7, 5-3 CAC) clinched the fourth seed in the 2010 CAC Volleyball Tournament as the Seahawks defeated York (25-5, 5-3 CAC) during the regular-season. St. Mary's will face fifth-seeded York in first-round action on Tuesday, November 2 at 7:00 pm.
Kodan led the Seahawks to victory with 11 kills, 12 digs and three blocks while first-year Michelle Klima (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) tallied a match-high 12 kills. Senior setter Katie Obal (Olney, Md./Sherwood) registered a career-high eight service aces, picking up 40 assists and seven digs as well.
Defensively, first-year libero Bianca Livioco (Montgomery Village, Md./Gaithersburg) collected a match-best 18 digs for the Seahawks.
St. Mary's jumped out to a 17-11 lead in the first set before Stevenson (23-7, 3-5 CAC) came back with an 11-4 run to claim the lead for good en route to a 26-24 win and a 1-0 lead.
The Seahawks responded with a 25-22 victory in the second set after overcoming a 22-14 deficit with 11 straight points off of six Mustang attacking errors, four of which resulted from solo blocks by Kodan and first-year middle blocker Trish Kallis (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park). Kodan and Klima also provided two kills each while Obal had one ace in the 11-0 run.
St. Mary's carried the momentum into the third set, notching a convincing 25-14 win after opening up action with a 13-7 lead and building that six-point lead to a two-digit margin.
The Seahawks fell behind early in the fourth set but claimed their first lead of the set following an 11-11 tie score. The two teams battled back-and-forth before Stevenson used a kill by junior setter Amy Rudolph (North East, Md./Rising Sun) to break a 21-21 draw en route to the Mustangs' 25-22 win and an even match at two sets apiece.
In the fifth set, the Seahawks used a 9-2 run to kill Stevenson's early 3-1 lead and stake a 10-5 advantage. St. Mary's cruised to a 15-6 victory after that point for the match.
St. Mary's will host its 6th Annual Seahawk Invitational this Friday-Saturday, October 29-30, facing Bridgewater (Va.) College at 3:30 pm followed by a match with University of District of Columbia at 7:30 pm on Friday night.
