SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 20 Salisbury University volleyball team repeated as Capital Athletic Conference champions on Saturday evening as the Sea Gulls knocked off second-seed St. Mary's (Md.) College for the second year in a row 3-1 in front of an electric crowd of 350 at the Maggs Center. The win stretched Salisbury's win streak to an impressive 35-straight matches which ranks ninth all-time in NCAA Division III volleyball history.

Top-seed Salisbury (35-1) claims its fifth CAC title since they joined the conference in 1994. The Sea Gulls receive an automatic bid into the 2008 NCAA Division III volleyball tournament. The complete field will be announced on Monday. SU will be making its fifth appearance in the NCAA tournament. 

SU faced adversity as the Sea Gulls were in jeopardy of losing the first two sets of a match for the first time since the first match of the season against No. 1 Juniata College. Salisbury rallied in the second set to suppress St. Mary's momentum and went on to win the match by the set scores of 19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-17.

""I am going to enjoy this win tonight. It was a hard fought match. St. Mary's played a terrific match," said SU coach Margie Knight. "They are an excellent team. They are certainly a tournament team."

For the second straight match, Salisbury dropped the first set as the Seahawks (27-7) came out firing on offense and put the Sea Gulls on their heels. The second set began similar to how the first one ended as the Seahawks jumped out to an early 7-2 lead. Salisbury remained poised as junior Nicole Massarelli (11 kills, five service aces) stepped up and provided a huge boost for the Sea Gulls as she served the Gulls to six straight points which included three of her five aces on the night to cut the Seahawk lead to 10-9. Massarelli leads the Sea Gulls with 56 aces on the season. A turning point in the set was the strategic use of a timeout by Knight with the score even at 23-23. Following the timeout coach Knight inserted sophomore Melissa Stansbury (six digs, 17-for-18 on receptions) into the game for defensive purposes and was the catalyst for the offensive attack that resulted in one of the 13 kills recorded by sophomore Alexandria Malesick (.345 hitting percentage, solo block, assisted block) in the match. Senior Stacey Krebs (11 kills, 16 digs, two aces) recorded the final kill on the next point to propel the Sea Gulls to the 25-23 set win which even the score at 1-1.

"I made an important substitution by putting Melissa back in the second set," said Knight of the pivotal substitution.

Salisbury regrouped in the third set and played well in every facet of the game to cruise to an early 20-11 lead. St. Mary's rallied back behind a strong service effort from sophomore Claire Kodan, who cut the lead to four, 22-18. Malesick recorded two more kills to wrap up the third set and give SU a 2-1 advantage.

The fourth set was another classic battle between the two top CAC teams at the onset but Krebs stepped up to the service line with SU clinging to a three-point lead, 14-12, and served the Sea Gulls to three straight points to increase the lead to 17-12. Junior Gabby Long (16 digs, two service aces) served the final four points for the Sea Gulls as they closed out the set and match 25-17. Long surpassed the 600-dig plateau with her 16 tallies in the conference championship match.

The unsung hero of the match was Malesick as it seemed every time the Sea Gulls needed a big kill to swing the momentum Malesick delivered. She had a season-high for kills in a match with 13. She eclipsed her previous best mark of 12 set against No. 20 Christopher Newport University on October 3.

The senior co-captain duo of Jaime Marzocchi (39 assists) and Krebs, who have provided remarkable leadership all season, led the Sea Gulls to two CAC championship titles and a 45-8 career record at the Maggs Center (14-0 this season) in four seasons. Fellow seniors Stephanie Withers (five kills) and Sabrina Larmer, who both joined the team in 2006, both played key roles in the Sea Gulls' success the last three years. For her career, Marzocchi has accumulated 2,562 assists (third all-time), Krebs has recorded 1,720 kills (first all-time), Withers has notched 311 kills and Larmer has amassed 117 kills.

"What a special night. The crowd was amazing and really into it," said Knight. "To have four seniors leave here undefeated in their final year is great."