Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team will make its ninth straight Skyline Conference Tournament appearance on Tuesday when it welcomes sixth seeded Maritime to the Kaplan Center for an Opening Round match. Live stats will be available for those who cannot attend the contest.
 
At A Glance: After dropping its first 14 matches in a challenging schedule, Mount Saint Mary closed the regular season with 15 wins in its final 19 contests heading into Tuesday's tilt. The Knights earned the third seed in the tournament after posting an impressive 8-2 record in Skyline Conference action.
 
The Knights have five players with better than 100 kills on the season with junior Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) pacing the team with 196 winners. Senior Kayla Kurka (Islip, N.Y.) has put away 177 kills for the Knights heading into Tuesday's tilt, with Megan Williams (Glenmont, N.Y.) and Jennifer Hanley (Sayville, N.Y.) standing at 115 kills and Angelia Cirigliano (Newburgh, N.Y.) sitting at 109.
 
Senior Kaitlyn O'Brien (Staten Island, N.Y.) leads Mount Saint Mary with 58 service aces through the regular season and has added 201 digs. Williams paces the team with 58 total blocks, while Kurka has totaled 42 blocks for the Knights.
 
Freshman Kimberly Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) has handed out a team-high 517 assists for Mount Saint Mary to go along with 146 digs, while Kristen Maddock (Medford, N.Y.) has posted 332 assists and 111 digs.
 
Senior Jennifer Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) leads the Knights and the Skyline Conference in digs with 552 and in digs per set with 5.47. On Saturday against Farmingdale State, Gries set the career record for digs and after lifting 25 later in the day against St. Joseph's-L.I. stands at 1,493 in her career.
 
 
Head Coach: In his 13^th season as the head coach at Mount Saint Mary, Mike Strano has amassed 205 victories, with his 200^th victory coming early this season in a 3-2 road victory at Rutgers-Newark. Strano has guided the Knights to the Skyline Conference Tournament nine times, claiming the tournament championship and berth into the NCAA Tournament in 2012.
 
Under Strano, Mount Saint Mary has won the conference regular season crown three times and posted four 20 win seasons, including a program record 23 in 2012. Strano was named the Skyline Conference Coach of the Year in 2011 after posting a second straight unbeaten year in conference play.
 
A Look At Maritime: The Privateers are making their second straight trip to the conference tournament and stand at 16-14 overall on the season and finished the conference schedule with a 5-5 mark.
 
Maritime is led by 250 kills from Shannon Brady who is one of two players with more than 200 winners on the season. Carly Lombardo has put away 244 kills for the Privateers and also paces the team in aces with 79. Brady and Lombaro are tied for tops on the team in digs with 265 apiece.
 
Erika Bailey holds the team lead with 635 assists, a per set average of 6.98, while Meredith Hayes leads the way with 47 total blocks.
 
The 2015 Matchup: Mount Saint Mary and Maritime hooked up on September 27 at Old Westbury with the Knights coming away with a straight set victory. Sabatini and Kurka led the offensive attack with 10 kills each for the Knights, with Kimberly Gries handing out 28 assists. Jennifer Gries rounded out the match with 13 digs for Mount Saint Mary.
 
Hayes paced Maritime with six winners in the match, with Brady adding nine digs and three kills. Lombardo finished off a solid all-around match with five kills and five aces, while Bailey handed out 14 assists.
 
The Series: Since the start of the 1998 season, Mount Saint Mary and Maritime have squared off 20 times with the Knights holding a perfect 20-0 record against the Privateers. The Mount has dropped just two sets over that stretch with one coming in last season's Skyline Conference Tournament.
 
In 2014, Maritime and Mount Saint Mary met three times, including a 3-1 Knight victory in the opening round of the conference tournament. The Knights advanced to the semifinal round behind five total blocks each from Kurka and Jennifer Bones (Camden, Del.). Maribeth Powers (Yorktown, N.Y.) led the offensive attack with seven kills for the Knights.
 
The Skyline Conference Tournament: The Knights will look to advance to the championship round of the tournament for the fifth time in the last six seasons when it opens play on Tuesday. The other quarterfinal match pits St. Joseph's-L.I. against Farmingdale State. The winner of the match will advance on to play top seeded Mount Saint Vincent, with the winner of Tuesday's contest in Newburgh drawing Sage.
 
Mount Saint Mary enters Tuesday's contest at 15-18 overall on the season. 

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