THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – The Maritime Volleyball team settled for a split in its first home tri-match of the season. The team opened up the day with a straight-set win over the Sarah Lawrence Gryphons, before dropping a five-set marathon to the Bard Raptors in the team's second match of the day.
 
During the contest with Bard, junior Erika Bailey (Newark Valley, N.Y./Tioga Central) set the single-match record for assists as she registered 32 in the contest, and a total of 57 for the day. Her 32 against Bard is the most in modern program history as she eclipsed the mark of 28 set by Claudette Killian on three occasions, most recently in 2011.
 
On the day, junior Carly Lombardo (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) led the team with 27 kills, followed by sophomore Shannon Brady (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) with 18. Sophomore Gabrielle Kempski (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) and freshman Meredith Hayes (Houston, Texas/St. Agnes Academy) both recorded 12 on the afternoon. Brady led the team with 11 service aces.
 
Senior Charlotte Acklin (Lewes, Del./West Broward (Fla.)) had 24 digs to lead the way, while Kempski was second on the team with 23. Brady finished the match with 20 digs and Lombardo with 19.
 
Maritime controlled much of the play in its opening matchup against Sarah Lawrence, as the team jumped out to a quick 6-2 advantage. After a pair of points for the Gryphon, the Privateers rattled off seven straight points with Lombardo serving the ball, as she picked up four straight service aces in the set.
 
Maritime picked up another six unanswered point with Brady serving to put the first set out of reach as Maritime won 25-13.
 
In the second, the Privateers jumped out to a 3-0 lead but Sarah Lawrence answered and eventually closed the gap to 7-5. With Brady on service once again, Maritime put up 13 unanswered points with five of those points coming via service aces. Freshman Catherine Pfundstein (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) made her collegiate debut during the set, as Maritime closed out the stanza with four unanswered for the 25-8 win.
 
Sarah Lawrence jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set, and continued to fend off the Privateer attack as Maritime fell behind 9-5. However, the Privateers went on a 6-1 roll to take an 11-10 lead. After another strong rally by the Gryphons, Maritime answered back to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish as the team rolled out a 13-5 run to close out the match for the team's second straight win.
 
In the middle match of the day, Bard also knocked off Sarah Lawrence in straight-sets by the scores of 25-14, 25-14, 25-12.
 
The third match of the afternoon saw the most entertaining as the Raptors of Bard and the Privateers went the distance, on a five-set thriller. Included in the match was a 35-33 fourth set victory for the Privateers. It was the longest set for the Privateers since its matchup against Bard last season, which went all the way to 33-31, also in the fourth set.
 
Maritime took the first set by a 25-23 score, with Lombardo leading the way with four kills followed by senior Colleen Sheehy (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) with three kills. Lombardo and Kempski both had a pair of service aces, while Bailey registered eight assists in the opening period.
 
In the second set, Maritime struggled as it put up a match-low 16 points in the set as Bard evened up the match. Lombardo again led the team with another four kills, while Brady picked up a set-high four digs. Bailey added another six assists to her ledger.
 
Bard took the match lead with a win in the third set, knocking off the Privateers 25-22. This time around, Brady picked up four kills, while Bailey added six more assists. Lombardo and Kempski both led the teams with five digs.
 
The fourth-set marathon features 68 points overall, with the Privateers earning 35, which sent the match to the fifth and deciding set. In the fourth, Lombardo put the ball down on six occasions, with Hayes adding three kills of her own. The digs were spread out evenly as Lombardo, Bailey, Brady, Kempski, and Acklin all had at least four in the set. Bailey collected another eight assists to up her match total to tie the single-match record of 28.
 
In the fifth set, Bailey broke the mark with four more assists as she helped Lombardo to another three kills and Kempski to an additional two kills. In the deciding set, Acklin also accumulated seven digs. However, the set ended up going to Bard by the final score of 15-11 in the set to earn the match win, 3-2.
 
Against Bard, Lombardo had a career-best 19 kills as she eclipsed her previous mark of 11, done twice before. Acklin and Brady had season-high in digs with 20 and 16, respectively. Acklin's 20 digs tied a career-high with her 20 dig performance from the 2013 season against Mass. Maritime. Kempski had a season-high with five service aces, while Hayes added a season-best nine kills and three service aces against Bard.
 
Maritime (2-3) will resume non-conference play on Thursday evening, when the team travels to Wayne, N.J. to take on William Paterson beginning at 7 p.m.
 
Sarah Lawrence (1-3) will open up Skyline Conference play on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. on the road against Farmingdale. Bard (4-4) will also play in its first league match of 2015 when the team travels to take on Skidmore in Liberty League action on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.