NEWBURGH, N.Y. (Oct. 27, 2022) – For the second-straight year, the USMMA women's volleyball team will be the #1 seed in the Skyline Conference Tournament, as the Mariners defeated Mount St. Mary on the road, 3-0, on Thursday night to improve their record to 14-6 overall (10-1 Skyline).
The 10-1 mark in league play ties for the league-best with Farmingdale State and Manhattanville, but the third tie-breaker of set-win percentage among the three teams gives Merchant Marine the top spot in the tourney, which begins next week.
Match Links
The two sides went back-and-forth in the opening frame before a 7-0 run pushed the Mariners in front 15-7. The Knights used a three-point run to pull to within 21-16 late, but USMMA scored four of the final six points to open a one-set advantage.
The second set started much the same as the first with the two teams trading three-point runs in the early going. The Mariners used a 5-1 run in the middle stages of the second set to grab a 15-10 lead on a kill by senior
Paige Smith (Virginia Beach, Va.). The Mariners ripped off seven of nine points late to grab a 23-16 lead before a service error by Mount St. Mary followed by a service ace from junior
Brittany Breland (Bryan, Texas) gave USMMA a two-set advantage.
USMMA hit .414 as a team in the middle set, finishing the frame with a 14-9 advantage in kills.
The deciding set saw the Mariners open an early 6-1 lead before the Knights battled back to 12-10. Merchant Marine answered back with the next four points, including two kills from Smith, to pull in front 16-10. The Mariners finished off the sweep with a 5-1 run highlighted by two more kills by Smith and a service ace from senior
Skyler Burnham (Reading, Pa.).
Smith led all players in the match with 15 kills, hitting a blistering .542. She added nine digs and an ace. Breland put away seven kills and led the team with three aces. Junior
Meredith Buchanan (Kathleen, Ga.) produced six winners and lifted three digs.
Senior
Claire Hyun (Issaquah, Wash.) handed out a match-high 28 assists to go along with two aces and seven digs. Burnham led all players in the match with 13 digs.
For the Knights, senior Grace Riddle finished the night with nine kills, hitting .292 on the night and adding an ace and five digs. Classmate Sabrina Romano put away five kills for the Mount and contributed two blocks on the night. Freshman Jenna Cullinan led the Knights with eight digs and three aces and senior setter Fran Cammarata dished out 20 assists.
USMMA rounded out the night with a 39-22 advantage in kills and hit .278 as a team. The Mariners finished the night with a slim 10-7 edge in service aces. Total team blocks in the match were even at 2-2.
The Mariners have earned a first-round bye in the Skyline Tournament and will host the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 3, at the Liebertz Gymnasium. Live stats and a live video feed of the Skyline Semifinal match will be available with links on
the USMMA Women's Volleyball Schedule Page.
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