ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Maritime Volleyball team was back in action on Saturday afternoon with its first traditional tri-match of the season at the Stevenson Athletic Center against Sarah Lawrence and host Bard.
 
After dropping their first sets against the Gryphons and Raptors by identical scores of 17-25, the Privateers answered back with three-straight set wins to claim each match as a victory.
 
On the day, freshman Sheila Flaherty (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) led the Privateers with 24 kills, while sophomore Meredith Hayes (Houston, Texas/St. Agnes Academy) had 22. Junior Shannon Brady (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) had 21 kills, while senior Carly Lombardo (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) added 17 of her own. Lombardo also led the team with eight service aces on the day.
 
Senior Erika Bailey (Newark Valley, N.Y./Tioga Central) also put together two more top-ten single-match assist totals with 39 against Sarah Lawrence and 35 against Bard. On the season she already has 188, which is sixth highest on the single-season assist list through just seven matches.
 
Defensively, junior Gabrielle Kempski (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) collected a team-best 33 digs on the afternoon, while Lombardo was close behind with 31. Brady added 19 digs, as Bailey was also in double-figures with 10. Hayes and Lombardo led the team with four blocks apiece, while Flaherty added three and Brady had a pair.
 
In the opener against Sarah Lawrence, the Privateers dropped the opening set by a 25-17 score. Maritime came out strong and scored an early 6-2 lead as Hayes led with a pair of kills in the series. The Privateers opened up a 15-4 advantage, and later closed out the set at 25-14 to even the match at one set apiece.
 
Maritime took another early lead at 4-1, but the Gryphons answered with three-straight points to even the third set. The Privateers took an 11-7 lead, which then swelled to 17-12. Sarah Lawrence refused to go down and trimmed the deficit to 19-7, but Maritime was able to close out the set at a 25-20 score.
 
The Privateers stormed out into the lead in the fourth, scoring 15 of the first 20 points to take a 15-5 lead. After three straight from Sarah Lawrence, Maritime regained control and opened up a 19-8 lead before closing out the match with a 25-12 fourth set win over the Gryphons.
 
In their second match of the day, the Privateers took on the host Raptors and lost the first set to the identical score of 25-17 as they did against the Gryphons.
 
The second set was better for Maritime as the team fought back from an early deficit to tie the set at six, before storming ahead to a 12-6 advantage. Bard chipped away and trimmed the lead to three at 13-10, but the Privateers answered right back to move ahead 18-11. Maritime closed out the set on a 7-4 run to even the match at one with a 25-15 set score.
 
In the third set, Maritime took another 18-11 lead, but Bard stormed back to make it 19-17. Maritime went on to take six of the final 10 points of the set to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Finally in the last set of the afternoon, the team fell behind 1-0, but Maritime then stormed ahead with seven unanswered. After Maritime took a 10-7 lead, Bard regained the lead at 12-11. The Privateers had to fight back to tie the match at 15 and 16 before the Raptors tied it up at 18.
 
Brady, Bailey and a pair of kills from Flaherty gave Maritime some breathing room at 22-18, but Bard again fought back to even the score at 22, 23, 24, and 25. Hayes gave Maritime a 26-25 lead, before an attack error on the part of the Raptors sealed the win for the Privateers.
 
As a team, Maritime hit .196 on the day with a combined 91 kills and 85 assists. The Privateers also averaged one block per set, while Bard and Sarah Lawrence combined for .38 blocks per set.
 
Maritime (4-3) will take the week off from competition and prepare for their conference opener against the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The match will take place on Friday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Buzzards Bay, Mass. in their opening match of the Maritime Classic.
 
Sarah Lawrence (2-2) will also open up Skyline play on Thursday, when the Gryphons host the Yeshiva Maccabees. Bard (2-5) will take on Mount St. Mary on the road on Thursday evening.