NEWBURGH, N.Y. – The Maritime Volleyball team fell in the Skyline Conference Tournament First Round matchup to the Mount St. Mary Knights on Tuesday evening in straight sets 25-16, 25-18, and 25-12.
 
The loss ends the season for the Privateers, who finished the season with an overall record above the .500 mark at 16-15, which was the first time the team finished with a winning record in program history.
 
In the loss, Maritime was led by junior Carly Lombardo (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) with seven kills, and was tied for the team lead with one block as both she and freshman Meredith Hayes (Houston, Texas/St. Agnes Academy) split a block. Hayes finished the night with four kills.
 
Sophomore Shannon Brady (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) added three kills, and was fourth on the team with three digs. Senior Charlotte Acklin (Lewes, Del./West Broward (Fla.)) paved the way with eight digs on the match and also had two of the team's three service aces against the Knights.
 
Junior Erika Bailey (Newark Valley, N.Y./Tioga Central) had the team's third service aces, while also recording 14 assist in the match, while picking up a pair of kills. Freshman Catherine Pfundstein (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) led Maritime with 10 digs on the match, while senior Colleen Sheehy (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) added one kill to round out the Maritime lineup.
 
Mount St. Mary opened the match with a 4-1 advantage, but Maritime was able to close within one after kills from Brady and Lombardo. The Knights scored the next three points and played solid defense, as Mount St. Mary did not allow Maritime to close that margin any closer through the remainder of the set.
 
In the second set, it was a repeat of the first period at the Knights took an early 4-1 lead, eventually Maritime fell behind by an 11-4 score and it was too big of a hole to dig out of.

The Privateers did string together a five-point run on a kill from Bailey, a pair of service aces from Acklin, an attacking error by Mount St. Mary, and another kill by Brady to close the gap to 21-14. The Knights were able to close out the second set by a 25-18 score to push the match to the third set.
 
Once again, the Knights took a quick 4-1 lead in the third, and added to the lead by making the score 6-2 in the early going. A kill from Lombardo and an error by the Knights allowed Maritime to pull within two at 7-5, and spur a rally that saw Maritime trim the lead to one at 8-7 after a kill from Brady.
 
Mount St. Mary went on to score eight of the next nine points in the set to take a commanding 16-8 lead, which eventually ballooned into a 24-11 advantage. The Knights closed out the match with the final point as the Privateers fell in the third set by a 25-12 score.
 
Maritime (16-15, 5-5 Skyline) will look to build on its momentum of back-to-back playoff appearances in 2014 and 2015, as the team will push for a third straight appearance in 2016.
 
Mount St. Mary (16-18, 8-2 Skyline) will next travel to second seeded Sage on Thursday evening at 7 p.m.; the winner will advance to the Skyline Conference championship game on Saturday afternoon. Earlier this season when Sage and Mount St. Mary met, the Gators won in a lengthy five-set duel.