St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball team captured top team honors Saturday afternoon as the Seahawks won the 2015 Seahawk Invitational with a 2-0 record. St. Mary's swept both Methodist University and Eastern Mennonite University in route to the title.

Head coach Jeremy Sands said, "I'm proud of our team for maintaining complete focus and discipline today. The team really worked on the little things this week and it paid off. Amelia Graf and Grace Chao kept our offense moving quickly and our hitters varied our attack all night to keep the other team off balance."

"We had great contributions as well from our freshmen, Hannah Krauss, Meghan Kelley, Mia Griffiths, Marissa Dangler, and Marina Bell."

Senior middle hitter Mandy Goodspeed (Columbia, Md./Atholton) was named the tournament MVP while junior captain Mimi Graf (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. For Methodist, sophomore outside hitter Cassidy Hayes (Erwin, N.C./Triton) and first-year middle blocker Brittany Ter Meer (Fuquay-Varina, N.C./Cape Fear Christian) garnered All-Tournament honors while senior libero Katie Miller (San Antonio, Texas/Brandies) and sophomore outside hitter Janna Williams (Kenbridge, Va./Kenton Forest) represented Eastern Mennonite on the All-Tournament Team.

St. Mary's (5-3) posted winning scores of 25-16, 25-14, 25-23 in handing Methodist (5-2) a 3-0 loss. The Seahawks never trailed in dominating the first two sets. M. Graf's play featured strongly in those first two sets as she combined for seven kills and seven digs. The third set was highlighted by 14 tied scores and 10 lead changes.

M. Graf finished the match with a match-best nine kills and eight digs while Goodspeed added eight kills and four block assists. Junior libero Carissa Hill (Lanham, Md./Pallotti) contributed 14 digs and three service aces while M. Graf (16) and senior setter Grace Chao (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) combined for 29 assists.

Methodist then rallied from a 0-2 deficit in its second match to rebound with a 3-2 (21-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-9) victory over Eastern Mennonite (3-4). Four Monarchs paced the offense with double-digit kills, including 15 from Hayes while EMU's Katie Miller broke the school record for career digs with 25 in the match and now has 1,446 for her career.

The Seahawks cruised to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-20) triumph over EMU. St. Mary's opened up the first set with a 10-1 run before breaking rushing out to a 21-7 advantage. In the second set, the Royals were within 20-18 on a kill by junior outside hitter Kait Miller (Sellersville, Pa./Christopher Dock) before St. Mary's reeled off five straight points on four kills and one EMU attacking error. The Seahawks never trailed in the third set either and closed out the match on a 10-6 run.

Goodspeed paced all scorers with 12 kills and 13.0 points while M. Graf (16) and first-year setter Mia Griffiths (La Plata, Md./La Plata) combined for 31 assists. The team was led defensively by Hill's 14 digs. First-year outside hitter Meghan Kelley (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) came off the bench to contribute seven kills.

The Seahawks will be on the road next Saturday, September 19 as St. Mary's travels to Bridgewater, Virginia to face Randolph-Macon College and host Bridgewater College at 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., respectively.

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