SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – For the fifth consecutive season, the 15th-ranked and top-seeded Salisbury University volleyball team is one of the last two standing at the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Tournament. The Sea Gulls won their 13th consecutive match by torching the fourth-seeded Mary Washington Eagles 3-0 (25-15, 25-6, 25-11) in the C2C semifinals, hosted by UC Santa Cruz on Friday afternoon at West Field House.
With the win, the Sea Gulls will square off with 21st-ranked and second-seeded Christopher Newport in the championship match on Saturday at 6 p.m. EST (3 p.m. PST).
The Sea Gulls raced out to a 10-1 lead to open the first set, with
Gwen Eustace providing the hammer to finish off the run. The Eagles nibbled away and got as close as six, but SU netted the final four points of the frame, riding a UMW error to a 25-15 margin.
Leading 9-5 early in set two, Salisbury turned on the afterburners and closed on a 16-1 string, including 10 straight from the 9-5 to 19-5 mark. Eustace's slam put the fixture on ice, 25-6.
The beat rolled on in the third set, with the Sea Gulls building a 5-3 lead to 11-3 and never looking back. SU closed on an 8-1 run, salting it away at 25-11 on an Eagle error and punching its ticket to the final.
GAME NOTES
- Gwen Eustace shared the Sea Gull lead with 11 kills, hitting .625 for the match (16 attempts, one error) to increase her all-level NCAA-leading swing rate to .512. She also went up for four blocks (one solo).
- Amanda Meschi matched Eustace with 11 kills (.417) to go along with four digs.
- Kiley McTaggart notched seven kills and five blocks, while Alyssa DeWaal added four kills.
- Sophia Tapia landed five of SU's 12 service aces and went up for five block assists.
- Julie Altieri dished out 26 assists with six digs. Altieri needs 12 more helpers to reach the 1,000-assist mark for the second straight year.
- Elizabeth Villegas chased down a team-best 15 digs, while Sophia Blaufuss corralled 11.
- Salisbury hit .349 as a team and held the Eagles underwater for the match at -.041.
- The Sea Gulls dealt 12 aces to UMW's three and won the blocking battle 9-3.
The Sea Gulls will face CNU in the C2C Tournament championship match for the second consecutive season and third time in the past five years. The Captains, who swept third-seeded UC Santa Cruz in their Friday semis, are the defending conference champions after defeating SU in five sets in the 2024 final. Salisbury is 1-3 in the title match since 2021 and is seeking its second league crown in three years after winning the final in 2023.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 206 conference championships, and have produced 53 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
