Box Score
St. Mary's City, Md. – For the second
consecutive season, the St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball
team went five sets with its league nemesis, Salisbury University,
but the Sea Gulls overcame a 2-1 deficit to claim the 3-2 victory
in the Capital Athletic Conference opener for both squads Tuesday
night.
After evening up the match at 2-2, Salisbury (7-2, 1-0 CAC)
jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the deciding set before back-to-back
kills by first-year Michelle Klima
(Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) pulled the home team within
one. The Sea Gulls quickly responded with six straight points
en route to a dominant 15-6 triumph in the fifth set for the match
victory.
The conference rivals were neck-in-neck in the match's first two
sets with Salisbury taking the first, 25-23, before the Seahawks
answered back with a 25-23 win of their own in the second.
The Seahawks (4-3, 0-1 CAC) controlled the third set from start
to finish as juniors Gena
Hlavinka (Gaithersburg, Md./T.S. Wootton) and
Shannon
Fitzpatrick (Germantown, Md./St. John's College
[D.C.]) each tallied four kills. St. Mary's never trailed in
the set, leading by as many as 10 points (21-11) as sophomore
Cecilia
Blanc (Laytonsville, Md./Poolesville) served up five
straight points during that stretch while the run was capped by a
Fitzpatrick kill.
The two squads battled it out in the fourth set with the score
being knotted 12 times and the lead changing on seven different
occasions. Salisbury rolled to a 6-1 start before the
Seahawks clawed their way back into the set, evening up the score
at 11-11 following an ace by senior captain Katie Obal
(Olney, Md./Sherwood). The teams traded points from that
point on until the Sea Gulls capitalized on three attacking errors
to break a 22-22 draw and stake the 25-22 victory to force the
fifth set.
Hlavinka paced the Seahawks with a career-and
match-high 21 kills for a .618 hitting percentage as she made no
errors in 34 attempts. Klima also notched
double-digit kills with 13. Four players in double figures
commanded the defense with Blanc and
Fitzpatrick each denying 20 kill attempts by
Salisbury. Obal and first-year libero
Bianca
Livioco (Montgomery Village, Md./Gaithersburg) were
not far behind with 19 digs apiece.
Sophomores Chelsea Glowacki (Poolesville,
Md./Poolesville) and Carley Todd (Centerport,
N.Y./Harborfields) controlled the Salisbury offense with 15 and 11
kills, respectively. Outside hitters Kelly
Vieira (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) and Melissa
Stansbury (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) led five Sea Gulls in
double-digit digs with 22 each.
The Seahawks look to get back in the win column on Friday,
September 17 when they travel to Lancaster, Pa. to face Franklin
& Marshall College at 6:30 pm in non-conference action.
