BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College women's volleyball team (14-15, 3-1 Skyline) picked up a pair of wins in a Skyline Conference tri-match hosted by Sarah Lawrence College at the Campbell Sports Center on Saturday. The Knights came out victorious in an exhilarating five-set match against Farmingdale State College (11-18, 4-4 Skyline), 3-2 (23-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-27, 15-12), and then swept the host Gryphons (2-17, 0-5 Skyline), 3-0 (25-16, 25-8, 25-13).
After a tight, back-and-forth match, the Knights and Rams found themselves needing a decisive fifth set. The Rams caught fire early in the game, taking a 9-3 lead and looking like they would run away with the match. The Knights then regained their composure, taking seven of the next eight points to tie up the set at 10-10. They continued their run until they led 13-10, but the Rams looked to be coming back after taking two points to cut the deficit to one. The Knights held strong to earn the final two points and pick up their first win of the day.
Three Knights hit double-digit kills in Saturday's opening match, with sophomore outside hitter
Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) leading the way with 11. Junior outside hitter
Kayla Kurka (Islip, N.Y.) and junior right side
Maribeth Powers (Yorktown, N.Y.) followed Sabatini with 10 apiece. Sophomore setters
Claire Scully (Bloomfield, N.J.) and
Kristen Maddock (Medford, N.Y.) continued to split time, dishing out 20 and 16 assists, respectively.
Farmingdale State's Sarah Palladino led all scorers with 14 kills in the match. Megan Pisciotta passed out a match-high 36 assists, and Francesca Calderon picked up 21 digs.
After the first match lasted two hours and 11 minutes, the Knights turned things around in their second match, beating Sarah Lawrence in just an hour's time. Freshman middle blocker
Jennifer Bones (Camden, Del.) led the team with seven kills and hit .778 in the match. Sophomore middle blocker
Marissa Howlett (Marlboro, N.Y.) hit .833 and added five kills, while Kurka and senior outside hitter
Katie Lynch (Island Park, N.Y.) also contributed five kills. Maddock led the team with 18 assists in the day's finale, and also had a match-high six service aces.
The Knights next play on Wednesday, Oct. 22, when they host Yeshiva University for a Skyline Conference matchup at the Kaplan Center. It will also be the women's volleyball team's Colleges Against Cancer match, in which they will be raising money for breast cancer awareness. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m.
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@MSMCKnights
