Aston, Pa. – Junior right-side hitter Michelle Klima (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) knocked out 24 kills and collected 26.5 points in helping the St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball team to a 1-1 start Friday night at the Knights Invitational hosted by Neumann University.

The Seahawks (5-2) opened up with a four-set loss to host Neumann (5-5) before rebounding with a sweep of University of Pittsburgh at Bradford (3-9).

Klima controlled the attack for St. Mary's against Neumann (20-25, 25-21, 15-25, 19-25) as she put down 13 kills for a .556 hitting percentage while adding 3.0 blocks.  Senior outside hitter Cecilia Blanc (Gaithersburg, Md./Poolesville) paced the defensive front with nine digs and contributed six kills to offense.

First-year middle hitter Karlee Vaillant (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) served up three aces and registered six kills to aid the attack while notching 4.0 blocks to help out defensively.  Setters Dani Thorne (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) and Grace Chao (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) combined for 31 assists.

Neumann was paced by senior middle hitter Natalie George's (Rutledge, Pa.) 14 kills and 5.0 blocks while junior outside hitter Katelin Kulentz (Spring City, Pa.) posted a double-double with 18 digs and 11 kills.

Klima followed up her Neumann performance with 11 kills versus Pitt-Bradford (25-22, 25-13, 25-20) while Vaillant added seven kills.  Chao served up three aces and joined forces with Thorne to run the offense with a combined 32 assists.

Defensively, junior libero Bianca Livioco (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) registered 15 digs and Blanc denied 10 Pitt-Bradford attack attempts while senior right-side hitter Shelby Mullennix (California, Md./Leonardtown) contributed 3.0 blocks and four kills.

The Panthers were led by senior Maggie Johnson (Hilton, N.Y.) and first-year Lauren Hogue (Cranberry, Pa.) as the duo finished with eight kills apiece while junior Cassandra Heil (Gerry, N.Y.) had a team-high 14 digs.

The Seahawks will be back in action tomorrow as St. Mary's wraps up action at the Knights Invitational.  St. Mary's will start off its Saturday with a match against Marywood University at 12:00 pm before facing Penn State Berks at 4:00 pm.

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