Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Volleyball team was eliminated from the Skyline Conference Championship on Thursday night following a hard fought 20-25, 25-21, 23-25, 23-25 semifinal loss to St. Joseph's-L.I. Sophomore Klaire Wall (Point Pleasant, N.J.) led the Mount with 23 digs, while senior Alex Klesin (Glendale, N.Y.) paced the offensive attack with 16 kills.
 
In a tightly contested contest throughout, the Golden Eagles used an 8-1 run in the first set to move in front 17-12. The Knights battled back to within 20-17, but the visitors scored five of the final eight points of the frame to open a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Mount rebounded in the second frame and opened a 22-12 lead following a 12-4 run capped by a Madelyn Barberan (Fishkill, N.Y.) service ace. St. Joseph's-L.I. clawed back to within 24-21 with a 9-3 spurt, but a Klesin winner closed out the second stanza and evened the match at one set apiece.
 
St. Joseph's jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the third set on Thursday on a Mount Saint Mary miscue and went on to open a 20-13 advantage on a Kristen Bohnenblusch winner. The Knights used a quick 4-0 run highlighted by kills from Barberan and Morgan Burke (Ringwood, N.J.) to climb back to within 24-23, but a service error trailing by a point sent the visitors to the 2-1 advantage.
 
The fourth set saw Mount Saint Mary surge in front 15-11 after taking advantage of three straight St. Joseph's miscues. The Mount held the lead until an Amanda Goldstein winner knotted the score at 16-16 with neither team pulling in front by more than a point until a four point run from the Golden Eagles pushed them in front 21-17. The Knights rallied to within 22-21 and 24-23, but a Jessica Young kill closed out the match for the visitors.
 
Kaitlin Williams led the winning effort for St. Joseph's with 14 kills to go along with 17 digs, with Goldstein and Bohnenblusch adding 10 and 11 winners, respectively. Danielle Senical led all players with 26 digs in the match and Brionna Silva handed out 42 assists.

Klesin led the Mount's offensive attack with 16 kills, adding four digs and a pair of blocks. Burke continued her strong junior season with 12 winners, hitting .370 in the process, to go along with five total blocks.
 
Barberan finished off a strong all-around match for the Knights with nine winners and 22 digs to go along with half of the team's four service aces. Nicole Spinelli (Wantagh, N.Y.) finished off the match with four kills and four blocks for the Knights.
 
Wall led four players in double-figures in digs with 23, adding a service ace. Renee Hydo (Bethpage, N.Y.) lifted 10 digs for the Mount and senior Kim Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) handed out 40 assists and completed a double-double with 12 digs. Emily Mazzurco (Middletown, N.Y.) finished the night with two kills, two blocks and three digs for the Knights.
 
St. Joseph's finished the night with a slim 51-48 advantage in kills and hit .126 as a team compared to .110 for the Mount. Aces in the contest were even at 4-4, with the Knights holding a 9-4 advantage in total team blocks.
 
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 18-14 overall on the season with the Knights awaiting word on an ECAC bid on Monday.