St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball team dropped just their second five-setter of the season as Salisbury University outlasted the Seahawks, 3-2, in Capital Athletic Conference action Tuesday night. Tonight's match result marked the third time in the last five years that a fifth set has been needed to decide the match and Salisbury is 3-0 in that stretch.

It was the first conference loss of the season for the Seahawks (15-4, 1-1 CAC) and first conference win for Salisbury (18-3, 1-1 CAC). The Sea Gulls captured the first two sets, 25-14, 25-19 before St. Mary's rallied with set wins of 25-17, 25-21 to force the fifth and deciding set which Salisbury claimed by a 15-6 margin.

Sophomore Mandy Goodspeed (Columbia, Md./Atholton) was the only Seahawk to finish with double-digit kills as Goodspeed tallied 14 while adding a match-best five total blocks (one solo). Sophomore Karlee Vaillant (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) helped out offensively with nine kills and one solo block.

The score was tied three times and the lead changed three times early in the first set but Salisbury used a 9-1 run to take the lead for good. The Sea Gulls led by 10 twice in the game en route to a 25-14 win. Salisbury jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the second set before the Seahawks put together a 12-5 stretch to knot the match at 16-16. However, the Sea Gulls responded by closing out the second set on a 9-3 run.

After a 7-7 draw in the third set, St. Mary's rattled off four straight to force the Sea Gulls to burn a timeout. Three straight Seahawk kills, including back-to-back kills by sophomore captain Autumn Fisher (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown), gave them a 17-12 to cause Salisbury to use its second and final timeout. St. Mary's was able to hold on to cut the Sea Gull lead to 2-1.

First-year Carissa Hill (Lanham, Md./Pallotti) served five straight points to start off the fourth set, giving the Seahawks a lead that they would never relinquish. Salisbury knotted the set three times but was never able to get one up on St. Mary's as the home team forced the decisive fifth set. It was all Salisbury in the fifth set as the Sea Gulls opened up with a 5-0 run and held an 8-2 advantage when the teams switch sides.

Hill finished with 24 digs while senior captain Michelle Klima (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) had seven kills, four aces and two blocks assists. Senior Elaina Straub (Burtonsville, Md./Paint Branch) notched her second double-double with 18 assists and 15 digs.

Salisbury had three players with double-digit kills as junior outside hitter Mattie Smith (Middletown, Md./Middletown) led the way with 17. Defensively, junior defensive specialist Michelle Meehan (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) tallied 29 digs while setters Gretchen Vandermeer (Clarion, Pa./Clarion Area) and Kacey Franz (New Freedom, Pa./Susquehannock) combined for 45 assists.

The Seahawks will be idle until Thursday, October 17th when St. Mary's travels to York College of Pennsylvania for another conference matchup at 7:00 pm.

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