St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball team is advancing to the semifinals of the 2012 Capital Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament following the third-seeded Seahawks' sweep of sixth-seeded York College of Pennsylvania Thursday night.

St. Mary's (21-8) will be making its first appearance in the CAC semifinals since 2008 when the Seahawks finished as the conference tournament runners-up.  St. Mary's will travel to Arlington, Virginia tomorrow night to take on second-seeded Marymount University at 7:00 pm.

The Seahawks posted set scores of 25-10, 25-17, 25-22 in picking up their 21st victory of the season, notching their fifth 20-win season under the leadership of ninth-year head coach Morris Davis.

First-year middle blocker Mandy Goodspeed (Columbia, Md./Atholton) paced the Seahawk offense with an efficient evening of 10 kills against one error in 20 attempts for a .450 hitting percentage.  Goodspeed added 4.0 total blocks as well, including two solo blocks.

St. Mary's dominated the first set as the Spartan defense could not handle the host team's service game, succumbing to six aces.  The Seahawks also hit .300 for the game, committing only two errors in 33 attempts.  York could not overcome an 11-2 start by St. Mary's.

In the second set, the Seahawks broke a 9-9 draw with a 6-0 run to take the lead for good.  Junior right-side hitter Michelle Klima (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) stepped up her game in the set as Klima notched six of her nine kills, including the kill that sealed the 25-17 win.

York (9-26) was poised to force a fourth set as the Spartans jumped out to a 12-6 advantage in the third but back-to-back kills by Goodspeed sparked a 5-0 run to close the gap to one.  YCP reaped a 16-11 lead before a 9-3 Seahawk run gave the lead to St. Mary's for good.

Senior outside hitter Cecilia Blanc (Gaithersburg, Md./Poolesville) served her team to a 23-20 margin but consecutive kills by senior middle hitter Melissa Patterson (Edgewater, Md./South River) pulled York within one.  However, two Spartan attack errors in a row sealed the match win for St. Mary's.

Senior setter Dani Thorne (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) finished the night with her 10th double-double of the season on a match-high 16 digs and 15 assists while senior outside hitter Jenn Rindone (Crofton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) notched 15 digs and three aces.  Junior libero Bianca Livioco (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) tallied 14 digs while Blanc contributed 10 digs and two aces.

Senior outside hitter Dani Mastroieni (Chalfont, Pa./Gwynedd Mercy Academy) led York with seven kills while senior libero Ashley Rineman (Hanover, Pa./Delone Catholic) had a match-best 27 digs.

Facebook: http://facebook.com/StMarysAthletics

Twitter: http://twitter.com/smcseahawks, #SeahawkNation