St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball team came out strong Friday night and took the first set from Randolph-Macon College but the Seahawks dropped the non-conference match by a 3-1 decision.

The loss extends St. Mary's (15-8) skid to five matches in a row. The Seahawks return to Capital Athletic Conference action tomorrow night as they host Wesley College on Senior Day at 5:30 pm in the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena.

The Seahawks had two players finish with double-digit kills. Sophomore middle blocker Mandy Goodspeed (Columbia, Md./Atholton) collected 14 kills and five digs while sophomore captain Autumn Fisher (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown) added 11 and eight, respectively.

St. Mary's, who suffered an early season loss to Randolph-Macon (20-6) by a 3-0 margin on August 31, battled in the first set to claim a 25-23 win. The Seahawks' first set win was the first time in the last six meetings that they won a game against R-MC. The score was tied 15 times and the lead changed seven times in the opening set.

Fisher laid down a kill that broke an 18-18 draw and gave St. Mary's the lead for good. The Yellow Jackets came within 24-23 on a kill by senior Hillary Jessee (Warm Springs, Va./Bath County), forcing the home team to call a timeout. After the timeout, Goodspeed sealed the deal with her fifth kill of the set.

Randolph-Macon cruised to a 25-14 win in the second set as they overcame a 5-2 deficit and pulled away with an 18-5 run. The Yellow Jackets were efficient in the third game as well, hitting .430 with 17 kills and only four errors en route to a 25-16 victory.

The Seahawks did not make it easy for R-MC in the fourth and final set, fighting the Yellow Jackets every step of the way. The visitors thought they had the win in hand with a 19-15 lead but three consecutive errors had St. Mary's within one.

Kills by senior right-side hitter Joanna Murray (Reisterstown, Md./Franklin), Goodspeed, and Fisher kept the Seahawks biting at their heels. However, a Seahawk service error staked Randolph-Macon's 10th win in a row.

First-year setter Mimi Graf (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) dished a season-best 30 assists and contributed nine digs while first-year libero Carissa Hill (Lanham, Md./Pallotti) turned away 21 attack attempts.

Jessee was one of three R-MC players with double-digit kills as she finished with 12. Senior Tori Puryear (Madison, Va./Madison) had a match-best 17 kills while senior Marli Dabareiner (Hardy, Va./North Cross School) picked up 25 digs.

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