By Jack Poleto
Sports Editor
On Sept. 17, Women’s Volleyball played another doubleheader against Notre Dame of Maryland University and Gwynedd Mercy University.
The first of those games was a close race against the Notre Dame Gators. The first set opened with the teams trading the serve back and forth.
When the score hit 19-19 the Shorewomen went on a five-point run to give them a massive advantage at the end of the set. The Gators responded with two points and then the Shorewomen won the set after a service error from Notre Dame.
The Shorewomen came out strong for the second set, outscoring the Gators 8 points to 1 point.
At 14-8, the Gators scored six-straight points to tie up the set at 14-14. They pulled ahead with a three-point run followed by five more points to bring the score to 17-23.
Trying to turn the tide, freshman middle hitter Logan Kenny gave the Shorewomen the serve back after recording a kill. The Gators posted the final two points of the set with two kills of their own. The second set finished with a score of 18-25 for the Gators.
The third set began as another back-and-forth battle with the Shorewomen holding the lead the entire time. At 8-7, the team went on a four-point run that made it challenging for Notre Dame to come back from.
The Shorewomen kept the pressure on with several small runs and killed the momentum that the Gators were mustering with another four-point run that brought the score to 23-14. The third set was closed out with a final score of 25-15 by a kill from senior outside hitter Courtney Maxwell followed by an ace from Kenny.
As the fourth set began, the Gators took an early lead with several back-to-back runs. When the score hit 7-11, Notre Dame went on a four-point run that would prove insurmountable for the Shorewomen.
The Shorewomen posted a three-point streak thanks to two kills from junior middle hitter Riley McHugh, but the Gators continued to capitalize on the Shorewomen’s errors and ended up taking the game 25-15 advancing the match into a fifth set.
The first eight points of the game were neck and neck, but the Shorewomen took the lead with a four-point stretch which included two kills from junior outside hitter Angelina Schaber. The Gators responded and the game went back and forth. With the score standing at 13-12, the Gators had a service error. Schaber secured the fifth set victory with an outside kill and the Shorewomen won the set 15-12.
The day was not yet over for the Shorewomen who then went on to play the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins. The first three sets were incredibly close and well fought for both teams.
The first set against the Griffins was back and forth the entire set with no team receiving more than three points in a row. The score was 21-24 favoring the Griffins but the Shorewomen responded with three back-to-back kills from Maxwell and Kleinbussink, tying the score 24-24. Despite this run from the Shorewomen, the Griffins pulled ahead and won the game 25-27.
The Shorewomen and Griffins were back and forth throughout the entire game. Although the Shorewomen had some strong runs of three or four points, the Griffins always responded. The largest point deficit during this game was five. In the end, thanks to two kills from Kleinbussink the Shorewomen won the second set 25-22.
In the third set of the game, the Shorewomen took an early lead with some outstanding serving from Maxwell and significant kills from Schaber and Kleinbussink. The Griffins responded with a two-score run and then a four-score run tying the Shorewomen and the Griffins at 9-9.
The next 12 points went back and forth between the team. The Shorewomen would score, and the Griffins would respond, tying the game, until the Shorewomen went on a four-point streak initiated by an attack from Schaber.
Although the Griffins lowered their deficit with the Shorewomen after the streak, it was not enough to give them the lead. The Shorewomen won the third set 25-21.
The Shorewomen came out strong at the start of the fourth set, scoring 11 points, while the Griffins only had two points on the board. The Griffins were unsuccessful in getting more than two points in a row for the set and the Shorewomen continued to advance, especially because of strong kills from Kenny, Schaber, and Maxwell.
The Shorewomen earned the last six points of the game with Schaber and Kleinbussink leading the Shorewomen in kills. Junior libero Jordan Fairchild ended the set and match with a service ace and the Shorewomen won the set 25-11 and the match 3-1.