Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team closed out the home regular season schedule on Saturday afternoon with a 25-14, 25-12, 25-21 sweep of Old Westbury and a 20-25, 21-25, 18-25 hard fought straight set loss to the College of Mount Saint Vincent. Senior Kayla Kurka (Islip, N.Y.) finished day with 15 kills, including eight against the Dolphins.
 
In Saturday's opener, the Knights dominated play from the start, totaling 37 kills and 51 points against the Panthers. The match featured 16 ties and just nine lead changes, with seven of those coming in the final set.
 
Kurka hit an efficient .417 for the Mount against Old Westbury, totaling seven kills against a pair of attack errors. Sophomore Megan Williams (Glenmont, N.Y.) joined Kurka with seven kills in the win, adding a block assist for the Knights.
 
Junior Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) finished the victory with five kills for Mount Saint Mary, chipping in with four digs. Kimberly Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) led all players with 20 assists in the opener, while Michelle Corona (Carmel, N.Y.) lifted a team-high nine digs. Jennifer Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) and Kaitlin O'Brien (Staten Island, N.Y.) finished off the win with three service aces apiece.
 
Overall in the match, Mount Saint Mary finished with a 37-12 advantage in kills and a convincing 13-3 edge in service aces. Mount Saint Mary collected the only team block in the match, with Williams and Kurka each recording a block assist.
 
Against Mount Saint Vincent, the Knights jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead on the Dolphins in the first set behind a pair of aces from Jen Gries. The Dolphins would eventually knot the score at 14-14 after a Maria Leineweber kill and used a 5-1 spurt at the end of the set to claim a one set advantage.
 
The visitors used a five point run in the middle of the second set to move in front 18-14 to grab the lead for good in the frame. The Knights got to within a point twice late in the set, but a pair of Ashleigh Scozzari kills closed out the second set for the Dolphins.
 
Mount Saint Mary led twice in the early stages of the third set, before an 8-0 run from the Dolphins opened a 21-12 advantage. The Knights battled back to within 23-17, but a pair of miscues closed out the sweep for the visitors.
 
Kurka led the team with eight kills against Mount Saint Vincent, hitting .333, adding four digs for the Knights. Sabatini chipped in with six kills and seven digs, while Angelia Cirigliano (Newburgh, N.Y.) contributed five winners for Mount Saint Mary.
 
Kristen Maddock (Medford, N.Y.) led the Knights with 14 assists and 10 digs, recording her third double-double of the season. Maddock and Jen Gries each finished with a pair of aces in the match, with Gries adding eight digs.
 
The Dolphins were paced by 14 kills and a .429 attack percentage from Scozzari and received 10 winners from Leineweber. Nicole Henderson handed out a match-high 32 assists, with Leineweber leading all players with 14 digs.
 
Overall, Mount Saint Vincent held the edge in kills 35-28 and total blocks 6-2, while service aces in the contest were even at 6-6.
 
Saturday's split moves Mount Saint Mary to 11-18 overall on the season and to 4-2 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights return to action on Sunday when they travel to Yeshiva to take on the Maccabees (11:00 a.m.) and Sarah Lawrence (1:00 p.m.). 

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