Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team saw its three match winning streak come to an end on Wednesday with a hard fought 26-24, 23-25, 23-25, 19-25 loss to conference preseason favorite USMMA. Freshman Renee Hydo (Bethpage, N.Y.) finished the night with a career-high 12 kills.
 
Tightly contested throughout, the Mount overcame a late 24-21 deficit in the opening set with a 5-0 run to take a 1-0 lead on the night. Ally Klesin (Glendale, N.Y.) put away a pair of kills for the Mount over the final run, with Nicole Spinelli (Wantagh, N.Y.) finishing off the set with a kill.
 
In the second set it was Mount Saint Mary who gained a late lead, taking a 23-22 advantage on a USMMA miscue. The Mariners responded with the final three points, all kills from Kate Lefler, to even the match at a set apiece.
 
USMMA ran out to a 5-1 lead in the third frame, but the Knights rallied with an 8-0 run to pull in front 9-5 on a Hydo winner. The Mount maintained the lead until an attack error pushed the visitors in front 17-16 and saw USMMA use another 3-0 run late in the frame to finish the set and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The Mariners took control of the fourth set with a 5-0 run to take a 20-15 lead on a Dominique Pope winner and went on to score 10 of the final 14 points of the night to earn their third league win of the season. Pope, Kayla Gleason and Tichina Carmon recorded kills over a 4-0 finishing run for USMMA.
 
Hydo was the only Knight to finish in double-figures in kills with her career-high total. She added two aces and a career-high 12 digs to post her first career double-double. Klesin finished the night with eight winners and 10 digs for the Mount.
 
Spinelli continued her sotrong season with six kills and five total blocks, with Megan Williams (Glenmont, N.Y.) finishing with five blocks and four kills. Morgan Burke (Ringwood, N.J.) finished off the night with five kills and three blocks for the Mount.
 
Junior Kim Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) handed out 28 assists and added a pair of service aces, while Julimar Figueroa (Dorado, Puerto Rico) reached the 20 dig mark for the second time this season with a match-high 21.
 
USMMA was led by a match-high 14 kills from Pope and received 10 winners from Lefler. Myckenzie Toler led the team with 17 digs with Gleason posting nine kills, three service aces and 11 digs. Alex Miller rounded out the night with a match-high 36 assists.
 
Overall, USMMA held the advantage in kills 42-37 and digs 78-72, while the Mount held the edge in aces 9-7 and total team blocks 8-5.
 
At 6-15 overall on the season and 0-2 in Skyline Conference play, the Knights head to Riverdale, N.Y. on Sunday to take on league rivals the College of Mount Saint Vincent and Old Westbury. Matches are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.