Maritime College Athletics

THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – The Maritime volleyball hosted the Mount St. Mary Knights inside Riesenberg Hall Gymnasium for the first time in five seasons, and dropped its Skyline Conference match in straight sets to its guest.
 
The loss was the Privateers' first home loss in eight matches, dating back to the 2016 season when the Privateers fell to the John Jay Bloodhounds on October 28.
 
Mount St. Mary won the three-set match by the scores of 25-10, 25-14, and 25-17 to drop the Privateers to 2-3 in league play. Mount St. Mary improves to 2-3 with its conference victory.
 
Maritime was led by junior Meredith Hayes (Houston, Texas/St. Agnes Academy), who ended the night with a match-high four kills for the Privateers. Freshman Abby Steele (Crossville, Tenn./Stone Memorial) was the only other Privateer with multiple kills as she recorded a pair. Senior Gabrielle Kempski (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) had the team's lone service ace, while freshman Erika Kirchner (Meadowmere Park, N.Y./Lawrence) ended the night with nine assists.
 
Defensively freshman Abby Solomos (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Mt. Sinai) led the team with 15 digs, while Kempski added 10 and senior Shannon Brady (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) had nine digs on the night. Hayes and Brady combined for Maritime's lone block.
 
Mount St. Mary controlled much of the early play in the first set and jumped out to a 12-7 lead. Maritime was unable to recover as the Knights were able to close out the set on a 12-1 run to take the set by a score of 25-10.
 
The second set saw Maritime fall behind by a 5-1 mark, Steele got a kill to thwart the rally followed by an attacking error by the Knights as Maritime pulled back within two. The Knights went on an 8-1 run to take a 13-4 lead and coasted through the remainder of the set to pick up the 25-14 set victory.
 
The Knights led early in the third set by a 6-1 and 7-2 margin, before a Mount St. Mary service error and attack error allowed the Privateers to pull back within three. Maritime clawed their way back to keep the set close but the Knights kept just enough distance to win the third set by eight points.
 
Maritime (8-9, 2-3 Skyline) will be on the road this Thursday, when the team travels to the Hill Center for another Skyline Conference matchup against the Bears of St. Joseph's (Bklyn).
 
Mount St. Mary (8-16, 2-3 Skyline) will host Delhi on Thursday evening for a non-conference matchup with the Broncos beginning at 7 p.m. from the Kaplan Center.