St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland volleyball team went the distance in their home-opener Wednesday night, handing Virginia Wesleyan College its third straight loss by a 3-2 count in front of a loud and proud crowd.

"What a nail biter tonight! Hats off to Virginia Wesleyan for coming in here and battling. We needed another five-set match after our California trip and I'm glad we came away with the victory," expressed head coach Jeremy Sands. "Alli Graf and Mandy Goodspeed really led us offensively at the net tonight and Carissa Hill has continuously been fantastic on defense and serve receive. We'll get back in the gym and really work on fixing our blocking and serving over the next few days."

St. Mary's (3-3) offense posted a hitting percentage of .228 while defense was also on point with 10.0 team blocks and 114 digs. As Coach Sands mentioned, senior middle hitter Mandy Goodspeed (Columbia, Md./Atholton) and junior Alli Graf (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) highlighted the Seahawk offense with 19 kills apiece.

The Seahawks claimed the first set 25-20 on a Goodspeed/Mimi Graf (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) block. St. Mary's rolled out to an 18-10 advantage before the Marlins pulled within 22-20. Virginia Wesleyan (2-4) responded with a 25-23 victory in the second set, notching match point on a Seahawk service error.

St. Mary's then countered with a 25-22 triumph in the third following a Marlin service error and the Seahawks staked a 2-1 lead in the match. Again, Virginia Wesleyan battled back to force the match into a fifth and decisive set. The fourth set was neck-in-neck and St. Mary's battled off two match points before first-year Kristina Scott (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) laid down a kill for the 25-22 VWC win.

In the fifth set, the Seahawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then the teams switched sides with St. Mary's up 8-6. The Seahawks fired off five straight points to own a 12-6 advantage but Virginia Wesleyan closed the gap to 14-11. The Marlins staved off four match points before first-year Hannah Krauss (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) sealed the match win with her fifth kill of the match.

Goodspeed had a near double-double with a season-best 19 kills and career-high eight digs while A. Graf recorded her fourth double-double with season-highs of 19 kills and 22 digs. M. Graf picked up second double-double with a season-best 27 assists and 12 digs while junior libero Carissa Hill (Lanham, Md./Pallotti) racked up 30 digs for the second straight match.

The Seahawks continue their home-stand this Saturday, September 12 with a tri-match at the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena. St. Mary's will take on Methodist University first at 12:00 p.m. before facing Eastern Mennonite University at 4:00 p.m. 

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