ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. - The No. 22 Salisbury
University volleyball secured first place in the Capital Athletic
Conference as they went on the road and knocked off previously
unbeaten conference foe St. Mary's (Md.) College, 3-1, on Friday
evening at the ARC Arena. With the victory the Sea Gulls have
earned the No. 1 seed for the upcoming CAC tournament, which begins
on November 4, and will look to defend their title from a season
ago.
Salisbury (29-1, 7-0 CAC) received excellent offensive
contributions from senior Stacey Krebs and juniors
Rachel Downes and Nicole
Massarelli and relied on a total team effort defensively
to defeat St. Mary's, 24-26, 25-20, 25-20, 28-26. Downes (two block
assists) led the offensive charge for the Sea Gulls with a
team-high 13 kills. She also recorded 17 digs for the
double-double. Fellow outside hitter Krebs also recorded a
double-double in the win as she found gaps in the St. Mary's (21-5,
6-1 CAC) defense 14 times and tallied 12 digs. Massarelli (four
digs, two service aces) rounded out the trio with nine kills.
Junior libero Gabby Long found herself in the
middle of the action all match long as she notched a match-high 30
digs. Senior setter Jaime Marzocchi (four kills)
had a great match as well and recorded the third double-double in
the match with 32 assists and 14 digs. Sophomore Alexandra
Malesick (five kills) had a monster game on the net with
three solo blocks and four block assists.
The win increased the Salisbury's nation's best win streak to 29
matches and also set a personal best win total for Coach
Margie Knight in her 12th season at the helm at
her Alma Mater.
"Both teams played extremely well," said Knight. "St. Mary's
served us the toughest we had seen all year. I was very proud
with the way the team played. It was an extremely hard fought game
between two of the better teams in the Mid-Atlantic region."
As part of the road trip, the Sea Gulls are also one of six
teams that will compete in the Seahawk Invitational hosted by St.
Mary's College this weekend. Salisbury opened tournament play after
the conference match with the Seahawks on Friday evening and
defeated Neumann College, 3-1. For the second straight match the
Sea Gulls dropped the first set but rallied to win three straight,
18-25, 27-25, 25-13, 25-13.
"We came out so slow because we were so tired from the match
against St. Mary's," said Krebs.
The Sea Gulls turned it around quickly and cruised through the
final three sets for the win.
Marzocchi turned in one of her best performances of the season
and got the offense attack back on track after the first set. She
recorded a match-high 42 assists, contributed six kills and seven
digs. Long had 22 digs and sophomore Melissa
Stansbury had 10 digs to provide several assist
opportunities for Marzocchi.
Krebs (seven digs) found her rhythm against the Knights and
notched a team-high 17 kills and did not have any hitting errors.
Downes recorded her second double-double of the evening as she had
11 kills and 17 digs to go along with one solo block and one block
assist. Massarelli turned in a solid performance with 12 kills, a
service ace, four digs, one block assist. Malesick had seven kills,
one solo block and one block assist in the win.
The maroon and gold have now stretched their winning streak to
an amazing 30 straight matches. The Sea Gulls will conclude the
Seahawk invitational on Saturday, October 25, with matches against
Marietta College and Gwynedd-Mercy College. The match times are set
for 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.
