The Maritime College women's volleyball team dropped a pair of Skyline Conference matches at the St. Joseph's Long Island tri-match. The Privateers battled Old Westbury to a tight three-set loss before falling in the second match of the day to the Golden Eagles.

Trailing 15-9 in the first set, Maritime put together a comeback run powered by two aces from senior middle blocker Meredith Hayes (Houston, Texas/St. Agnes Academy). In addition to the aces from Hayes, fellow middle blocker Celyna Custodio (Danbury, Conn./Danbury) picked up a kill to cap off the run and bring the set to a one-point difference at 16-15. However, the Panthers were able to recover and pull away to win the opening frame 25-20.

The momentum continued into the second set for Old Westbury as they jumped out to a big 20-8 lead. Maritime was able to bounce back once again and put together a run, but the lead was too much to overcome and the Privateers fell 25-19.

Maritime was able to get out of its slow start pattern in the third set and they leaped out to a 9-3 lead in the set. During the strong start, Hayes and Meghan Eagleton (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) picked up a huge double block to keep the pressure on the Panthers offense. However, Old Westbury continued to figure out an answer for everything that the Privateers could throw at them and they completed the sweep 25-16 in the final set.

Custodio and Hayes led the offensive effort with six and five kills, respectively. Sophomore setter Erika Kirchner (Meadowmere Park, N.Y./Lawrence) dished out 11 assists and added a team-high four aces. Defensively, Abby Solomos (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Mt. Sinai) was stellar on the back line and picked up 13 digs to lead the Privateers.

The second match of the day was a tough test for the Privateers, but once again they showed their ability to battle back. Trailing 15-3 in the opening set, the Privateers fought all the way back to 19-22, but they couldn't complete the comeback attempt and they fell 19-25.

The second and third sets were controlled by St. Joseph's Long Island as they never gave the Privateers a chance at another comeback attempt. The Golden Eagles won the final two sets 25-8 and 25-11.

Maritime still has playoff hopes alive as they host Sarah Lawrence on Tuesday at 6 p.m. They will then host a non-conference matchup against William Patterson at 7 p.m. on Thursday before hosting a tri-match of their own on Sunday against USMMA and Farmingdale St.