SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Salisbury University volleyball team traveled to Swarthmore College on Saturday afternoon for an out of conference bout with the Garnet. The Sea Gulls claimed a thrilling 3-2 victory, coming back from a 2-0 deficit. It is the first time the maroon and gold have overcome a 2-0 hole since last season against York College of Pennsylvania in a Capital Athletic Conference semifinal.   

Three different Salisbury (12-6) players tallied double-digit kills led by Nicole Venturelli, who posted 12 while Carley Cleland and Amanda Chew each finished the match with 10 kills apiece.

After dropping the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-18 Salisbury jumped to a 6-3 advantage early in the third set behind kills from Venturelli, Cleland, and Hannah Sullivan. However, the Garnet (11-4) managed to battle back and retake the lead pushing their advantage to 13-7 behind a 10-1 scoring run.

The Gulls managed to rally all the way back to tie the set at 19-19 using a 12-6 scoring run that saw three kills from Cleland while both Gianna Savarese and Venturelli tallied two each. The teams battled back and forth over the final few points but a three-point run by the Gulls sparked by a Savarese kill delivered the win.

The maroon and gold dominated set four posting a 25-10 victory as the Sea Gulls tallied nine kills to Swarthmore's three. Salisbury posted a .350 hitting percentage and held the Garnet to a hitting percentage of -.250 and forced nine attacking errors.

Salisbury continued to roll offensively in the fifth set claiming a 15-11 victory behind 10 kills, a .214 hitting percentage, and two blocks while holding Swarthmore to just five kills, a hitting percentage of .000, and five attacking errors.

Hailey Dougherty led the Sea Gulls' defensive effort with 27 digs while Cleland tallied eight blocks and Savarese and Sullivan combined for 11, hitting six and five, respectively. Kiana Bopp posted a team-best three service aces while Rachel Dubbs was one of the three players to tally two. Dubbs also finished the match with a team-best 34 assists.

Salisbury returns to action on Saturday, October 13 when it hosts University of Mary Washington for its homecoming match as well as senior day. The match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. at Maggs Physical Activities Center.