Rocky Mount, N.C. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball team posted a 1-1 record in their season-opening tri-match on Saturday.  The 2012 campaign started off with a 3-0 loss to the Randolph-Macon College Yellow Jackets before the Seahawks rebounded with a 3-1 victory over the hosts, the Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan College.

St. Mary's (1-1) played hard against a Randolph-Macon (2-0) squad that last season advanced to the second round of the 2011 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament and enters this season receiving votes in the 2012 AVCA Division III Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll.  The Yellow Jackets claimed the match with set scores of 25-15, 25-22, 25-17.

Junior middle blocker Michelle Klima (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) paced the Seahawks in the loss with eight kills while senior outside hitter Cecilia Blanc (Gaithersburg, Md./Poolesville) contributed a team-best 11 digs on the defensive side of the ball and added five kills.

Setters Grace Chao (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) and Dani Thorne (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) moved the offense forward with 15 and 14 assists, respectively.

The Seahawks started behind the eight ball in their match with N.C. Wesleyan (0-2) as the host school came out with a 25-21 win in the first set.  However, St. Mary's regrouped and captured three consecutive sets with scores of 25-20, 25-19, 25-15.

Klima and first-year middle blocker Mandy Goodspeed (Columbia, Md./Atholton) each knocked down 10 kills to lead the Seahawk attack.  Goodspeed's collegiate debut concluded with 16 kills, 2.5 blocks and two aces over two matches.

The defensive leaders were junior libero Bianca Livioco (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) and Blanc.  Livioco came up with 14 digs while Blanc tallied 11 and helped out offensively as well with eight kills.  Klima was a force on defensive as well with two block solos and a block assist.

Chao dished 19 assists and served up two aces in the win to finish her collegiate debut with 34 assists, six digs, and three service aces.  Thorne picked up 17 assists with her rotations.

The Seahawks will be back in action next Saturday, September 8 as St. Mary's hosts a tri-match of its own with Ferrum College and future Capital Athletic Conference member, Penn State Harrisburg.  St. Mary's takes on Ferrum first at 1:00 pm before facing PSU Harrisburg at 5:00 pm. 

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