Sabatini Breaks Career Kills Record Against Maritime

NEWBURGH – Playing in its final regular season home matches, the Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Volleyball team posted a 25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18 win over Maritime before falling 23-25, 10-25, 23-25 to St. Joseph’s-L.I. Senior Rachel Sabatini recorded 11 kills in the win and in the process set the all-time career kills record at the Mount.

Sabatini came into the day five kills shy of matching the record and eventually broke the record with her 936th career winner in the second set against the Privateers. She finished the win with a team-high 11 kills, adding two aces, nine digs and three total blocks for the Knights.

Sophomore Nicole Spinelli reached double-figures in kills for the first time in her career with 10 winners while hitting an efficient .353 against the Privateers. She closed out a strong all-around match with three aces, three blocks and four digs.

Senior Kristen Maddock finished off a double-double with 20 assists to go along with 13 digs. She also totaled seven of the team’s 13 service aces, leading all players in the match in the category. Kim Gries chipped in with 11 assists and six digs.

Freshman Morgan Burke continued her solid rookie campaign with nine kills, hitting .500 in 16 attempts, and posted a pair of blocks. Classmate Madelyn Barberan led the Knights with 14 defensive digs.

Maritime received a match-high 12 kills from Shannon Brady who added 10 digs as well as a match-high 18 digs from Carly Lombardo who contributed nine kills. Erika Bailey led all players with 32 assists.

For the match, Maritime held a slim 41-29 advantage in kills, while the Knights finished with a 13-7 edge in aces.

In the second match of the day the Knights saw St. Joseph’s rip off an 11 point run to open a 19-7 lead in the opening frame following consecutive Mount Saint Mary attack errors. The Knights rallied with 11 of the next 12 points to pull to within 20-18 and pulled to within one point three times before a Courtney Bocchieri kill gave the Golden Eagles the one set edge.

St. Joseph’s open another commanding lead in the second frame, using an 8-0 run to move in front 20-5. The Knights put together a 4-0 run, but saw the Golden Eagles close out the set with five of the final six points to take a 2-0 lead.

The third set went back-and-forth with the visitors using a three point run to break an 18-18 tie. The Knights would battle back to knot the score again at 22-22, but back-to-back kills from Bocchieri put the match away for St. Joseph’s.

The Knights were held to a .000 attack percentage in the loss, putting away just 21 kills. Megan Williams led the way with six winners and added two blocks. Burke added four kills and five blocks for the Knights.

Maddock handed out 13 more assists in the match, with Sabatini pacing the team with 16 digs to go along with three kills. The kill total pushes her new career record to 944. Angelia Cirigliano rounded out the match with 12 digs.

St. Joseph’s was led by 13 kills and a .346 attack percentage from Bocchieri and got a match-high 34 assists from Courtney Wickline. Danielle Senecal led all players with 25 digs.

The visitors finished the match with a 40-21 advantage in kills, while the Knights held a 6-4 advantage in aces and a 6-2 edge in total team blocks.

Sunday’s split moves Mount Saint Mary to 12-15 overall on the season and to 4-2 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights return to action on October 22 for a conference tri-match at Sage with the Gators and Old Westbury.