NEWBURGH – The Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Volleyball team closed out play in the regular season Thursday night with an 18-25, 17-25, 16-25 Skyline Conference loss to visiting USMMA. The Knights, who await Saturday’s results for seeding in the upcoming Skyline Conference Championship, were led by nine kills from senior Grace Riddle.
Thursday’s loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 11-14 overall on the season and ends the conference season at 6-5, while USMMA improves to 14-6 and 10-1 against Skyline Conference rivals.
The two sides went back-and-forth in the opening frame before a 7-0 run pushed the Mariners in front 15-7.
The Knights used a three-point run to pull to within 21-16 on a Mary Milano winner, but the visitors scored four of the final six points to open a one set advantage.
The second set started much the same as the first with the two teams trading three-point runs in the early going.
USMMA used a 5-1 run in the middle stages of the second set to grab a 15-10 lead on a Paige Smith kill.
The Knights used a winner from Riddle to cut its deficit to 16-14, before the Mariners ripped off seven of the next nine points to grab a 23-16 lead.
The Knights got a kill from Sabrina Romano to get to within 23-17, but a miscue and a service ace from Brittany Breland gave the visitors a two-set advantage.
USMMA hit .414 as a team in the middle set, finishing the frame with a 14-9 advantage in kills.
The deciding set saw the Mariners open an early 6-1 lead before the Knights battled back to 12-10 with a 3-0 run highlighted by an Ava DiScala kill and an ace from Erin Lema.
USMMA answered back with the next four points, including two kills from Smith, to pull in front 16-10.
Following the 3-0 run that got the Knights to within 12-10, the Mount managed back-to-back tallies just one more time the rest of the frame.
The Mariners finished off the sweep with a 5-1 run highlighted by two kills from Smith and a service ace from Skyler Burnham.
For The Knights
Riddle finished the night with nine winners for the Mount, hitting .292 on the night, and added an ace and five digs.
Romano put away five kills for the Mount and contributed two blocks on the night.
DiScala totaled four kills.
Lema finished the match with five digs, two aces and a pair of kills.
Jenna Cullinan led the Knights with eight digs and three aces.
Milano rounded out the match with two kills and a pair of blocks.
Fran Cammarata handed out 20 assists, recorded an ace and lifted three digs.
For The Mariners
Smith led all players in the match with 15 kills, hitting a blistering .542. She added nine digs and an ace.
Breland put away seven kills and led the team with three aces.
Meredith Buchanan produced six winners and lifted three digs.
Claire Hyun handed out a match-high 28 assists to go along with two aces and seven digs.
Burnham led all players in the match with 13 digs.
Match Statistics
USMMA rounded out the night with a 39-22 advantage in kills and hit .278 as a team.
The Mariners finished the night with a slim 10-7 edge in service aces.
Total team blocks in the match were even at 2-2.
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