SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury University volleyball team opened a busy week with a clean 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-21) sweep of the St. Mary's (Md.) Seahawks on Wednesday night at the Maggs Physical Activities Center.
The Sea Gulls blitzed their way to the first six points of the opening set, then after the Seahawks settled down and cut the deficit to 12-10, SU put together a 7-0 run, going up 19-10 on a tandem block from
Kiley McTaggart and
Gwen Eustace. Salisbury parked the bus from there, taking the frame 25-18 as
Sophia Tapia landed the clinching kill.
SMC flipped the script in set two, racing out to a 6-1 advantage. The Sea Gulls soon locked in, though, drawing even at 8-8 and keeping pace through the midway portion of the set. With the score tied 12-12, McTaggart and
Maura Fay powered back-to-back strikes to spark a 12-5 surge that pushed it to set point at 24-17. The Seahawks netted three straight but it was too little, too late, as
Julie Altieri executed a setter dump for the kill to ice it 25-20.
The two sides traded three-pieces to open the third set, at which point Eustace and Fay rose up for a stuff to kick off a seven-point string to open up a 10-3 SU advantage. SMC eventually clawed back to within 14-13 and kept pace through crunch time, but at the 20-18 mark Tapia brought the hammer down and Altieri followed with an ace to make it 22-18. The teams swapped points the rest of the way, with Altieri feeding Eustace for the kill to book it at 25-21.
GAME NOTES
- Kiley McTaggart led the Sea Gulls up front with 11 kills. She also posted six digs and three blocks.
- Gwen Eustace powered down 10 kills against no errors on 15 swings, good for a .667 clip. Her .490 attack percentage for the season currently ranks second in Division III. Eustace also rose up for four blocks (one solo) and added two digs.
- Maura Fay chipped in six kills, while Alyssa DeWaal added five.
- Julie Altieri served up 31 assists with 11 digs, good for her seventh double-double of the season (39th career), to go along with three kills and two service aces.
- Prudence Marco filled out the box score to the tune of a team-leading 14 digs, seven assists, and four aces.
- Elizabeth Villegas absorbed 12 digs, registering double digits in the stat for the fifth time in the last six matches.
- Salisbury hit .250 as a team, posting a .303 marker in the second set.
The Sea Gulls will now set their sights on the Kean Tournament in Union, N.J., where they will play four games over Friday and Saturday. SU will start off Alfred on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by Drew at 8 p.m., hosts Kean on Saturday at 10 a.m., and Hunter at 12 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.
