Box Score
 
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (Sept. 7, 2021) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy women's volleyball team came back twice to claim a big five-set victory over Vassar on the road on Tuesday night, 25-21, 14-25, 14-25, 25-22 and 15-13. The win improves the Mariners' record to 2-0, while the Brewers fall to 0-3 in defeat.
 
After coming back from down 2-1 overall in the match and forcing a decisive fifth set, USMMA was up 10-7 in the fifth, but Vassar spun off six-straight points to pull within two points of taking the match, 13-10. Head Coach Tim Gaiser called a timeout to regroup and the Mariners took advantage of a pair of Brewer errors and a kill by sophomore Amy Jones (Roscoe, Ill.) to tie the set up at, 13-13.
 
Then Vassar burnt a timeout to try and stall Merchant Marine's momentum, but that proved futile, as back-to-back attack errors by the Brewers gave the Mariners their hard fought victory.
 
Junior Paige Smith (Virginia Beach, Va.) recorded a double-double as she tied for the match-high with 17 kills while also picking up 13 digs. Seniors Taylor Gilbertson (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Brittney Pinzon (Fullerton, Calif.) just missed out on double-doubles, as Gilbertson had nine kills and 15 digs (and also led the Mariners with three service aces), while Pinzon dished out 36 assists and picked up nine digs to go along with five kills and two aces.
 
Junior libero Skyler Burnham (Reading, Pa.) led all players on the night with 31 digs, senior Shelby Bowman (Redmond, Wash.) contributed six kills and 14 digs and Jones finished the match with seven kills and four digs.
 
The two teams played really well on the back row, as Vassar totaled 90 digs over the five sets and the Mariners had 88.
 
Like Merchant Marine, the Brewers had five players register double-digit digs, with senior Claire Basler-Chang nabbing a double-double, tying Smith with 17 kills and recording a team-high 21 digs. Classmate Madison Wilson had a match-best 39 assists and picked up 12 digs.
 
The Mariners' next match is this Thursday night, Sept. 9, at home against Kean University. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Liebertz Gymnasium. Live stats and a live video feed will be available on the USMMA Women's Volleyball Schedule Page.
 
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