SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury University volleyball team earned a split over the final day of the 2025 Margie Knight Classic on Saturday at the Maggs Physical Activities Center. The Sea Gulls opened the day with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-14) sweep of the Thiel Tomcats, followed by a bruising matchup with sixth-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh that saw the Titans escape by a 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 27-29, 25-17) margin.
MATCH ONE
The Sea Gulls and Tomcats jousted closely throughout the first set, but facing a 16-15 deficit SU strung together four straight points, bookended by kills by
Sophia Tapia and
Kiley McTaggart. After giving up the next two to shrink the lead to 19-18, a strike from Tapia set off a 5-1 run to get it to set point at 24-19, then two points later McTaggart blasted a kill to ice it 25-20.
The Tomcats grabbed seven of the first nine points of set two, but Salisbury drew even at the 14-14 mark and soon took a 16-15 lead. Tied 17-17 later, Tapia teamed up with
Alyssa DeWaal for a stuff, and DeWaal's kill capped a 5-0 run to make it 22-17. The Sea Gulls eventually parked it at 25-19 on a marker from
Julie Altieri.
The third set was all Sea Gulls, who flipped a 6-4 deficit into a 16-8 lead, thanks in part to back-to-back-to-back Altieri aces. The Tomcats whittled it down to 17-13, but SU strung together six straight and eight of the last night to put it in the books, 25-14.
Game Notes
- Gwen Eustace powered down 13 kills, swinging .600 for the match. She also went up for two blocks (one solo).
- Kiley McTaggart notched nine kills against no errors, good for a .529 hitting clip.
- Sophia Tapia landed seven kills at a .462 rate and also added five blocks (one solo).
- Julie Altieri posted a well-rounded stat line with 29 assists, six kills, five digs, and four of SU's five service aces.
- Prudence Marco ran down 15 digs and served up 14 assists.
- Elizabeth Villegas and Alyssa DeWaal each added seven digs.
- The Sea Gulls hit .376 as a team on the day, including an even .500 in the decisive third set.
- Salisbury won the blocking battle 8-0.
- The win gave the Sea Gulls a 14-match home winning streak that began on Oct. 28, 2023.
MATCH TWO
The Titans raced out to big leads in the first two sets and withstood Sea Gull rallies in each, taking the opening fixtures 25-17 and 25-19.
The third set began the same way with UWO building a commanding 22-15 lead. From there,
Maura Fay powered one down to propel Salisbury into a 7-1 run to pull within 23-22. After Samantha Perlberg's kill set the Titans up at match point, an attack error and
Alyssa DeWaal strike brought the home side even at 24-24. SU then fought off three more match points, and consecutive tandem blocks by
Kiley McTaggart and
Sophia Tapia iced the set 29-27 to extend the match.
UWO again stormed out of the gate in set four, taking an early 15-7 lead. Salisbury rallied for a 6-1 swing to make it 16-13, but from there the Titans settled in and pulled away, riding a Perlberg kill to a 25-17 clinching margin.
Game Notes
- Kiley McTaggart paced the Sea Gulls up front with 14 kills to go along with four blocks.
- Gwen Eustace capped a blazing weekend run with 11 kills and an .833 hitting percentage. Over the season's first three matches, Eustace is swinging .698 with 33 kills against just three errors.
- Maura Fay chipped in with five kills.
- Julie Altieri registered her first double-double of the season, pushing up 27 assists with 18 digs.
- Prudence Marco matched a career high with 20 digs, plus five assists.
- Salisbury swung .146 as a team, including .213 in a victorious set three.
The Sea Gulls will stay home for three more matches next weekend in their Relay for Life Quad. Salisbury will open against Tufts on Friday at 4:30 p.m., followed by a rematch with Tufts on Saturday at 11 a.m. and a closing bout with Gettysburg at 4 p.m.
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 205 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.
