By Jack Poleto
Sports Editor
Women’s Volleyball went down to the District of Columbia to face Saint Mary’s College of Maryland and Trinity Washington University in back-to-back games.
In the first of those, the team faced the St. Mary’s Seahawks and went down early as the Seahawks opened with a five-point run.
The Shorewomen brought themselves into the set, getting the advantage as the teams traded points.
Late in the first set, the score was 24-25 with the Seahawks in the lead. With the help of a service error from St. Mary’s, the Shorewomen tied the game at 25-25. The Seahawks scored another point, but the team had an immediate answer with a kill from senior outside hitter Courtney Maxwell bringing the score to 26-26.
Ultimately, the Seahawks went on to score two straight points that would give them the win in the first set.
At the start of the second set, the team would go down early again. They slowly started to reel in the slack after the score hit 5-1.
The two teams went back and forth, but the Seahawks gained some separation after a few three-point runs where the score hit 12-20.
The Shorewomen tried to get some momentum so they could rally and take the second set with help from junior outside hitter Angelina Schaber’s three kills.
The team lost the second set 20-25 after St. Mary’s closed out with the final two points they needed.
At the start of the third set, the Shorewomen came out strong, going up 7-3 immediately with help from several teammates.
The team created even more separation from the Seahawks with a four-point run, with two kills from Schaber, making the score of the third set 16-10.
They wrapped up the set outscoring St. Mary’s nine points to three points with three coming from freshman outside hitter Giselle Kleinbussink’s three kills. The final two points for the Shorewomen were scored by junior outside hitter Sylvia Johnson giving the team their first set of the game.
The fourth set was a fight of runs, with the Shorewomen posting three-straight points and the Seahawks following it up with a four-point run.
After the teams traded a few points, St. Mary’s recorded six straight points, making the score 9-13, followed by another three-point run.
The team then got themselves back into the set by scoring five straight and went on to begin trading points with the Seahawks. The Shorewomen would tie the game with four-straight points, bringing the score to 21-21.
The serve bounced between the two teams, as they went back and forth with kills at 23-24. The Shorewomen took the lead after a tying kill from Kliensbussink and a service ace from freshman setter Allison McKechnie.
The Seahawks closed out the fourth set with three-straight points with a kill, an error, and an ace.
The Shorewomen were led in their second loss of the season by Schaber’s 18 kills and Klienbussink’s 14 kills along with McKechnie’s 22 assists and sophomore setter Brooklyn Pugner’s 18 assists.
The team looked to their next game of the day against Trinity Washington University.
They opened the first set in a dominating fashion with ten-straight points under sophomore outside hitter Colette Franck’s five aces.
Their dominance would continue later with an 11-point run by the Shorewomen with five aces and one kill from Schaber making the score 3-24. The first set ended with a score of 4-25 as Trinity made a service error.
The Shorewomen began the second set as they did the first, with an eight-point run with three aces from freshman libero Gianna Romano.
They kept the pressure on with a quick four-point run with three kills from three separate players followed by 12-straight points. Of those 16 points, five came from aces by sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Saddic and four from freshman outside hitter Emily Walker’s aces.
The blowout continued into the third set with the Shorewomen outscoring Trinity 16 points to 3 points thanks to Franck and freshman libero Victoria Kile posting four aces each.
The final set was closed out with a seven-point run from the team, with five more aces coming from Walker.
In their game against Trinity, the Shorewomen recorded a total of 41 service aces, 12 of which came from Walker.
After winning and losing one game at the doubleheader, Shorewomen Volleyball has a record of 4-2 this season.
Photo courtesy of Grace Hazlehurst
Photo Caption: Freshman outside hitter Giselle Klienbussink prepares to serve the ball.