The Maritime College women's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on senior day to USMMA and Farmingdale St. Following a difficult matchup with the Mariners to start the match, the Privateers played great volleyball against the Rams, but ultimately fell in five sets.

Prior the day's matches, Maritime honored senior Meredith Hayes (Houston, Texas/St. Agnes Academy) in a short pre-game ceremony. Hayes set the program record for kills in a match just five days prior in a five-set win over St. Joseph's Brooklyn, and is top-five all-time in kills, aces, blocks, and sets played. The Houston, TX native will go down as one of the best volleyball players ever to suit up for the Privateers.

In the opening match, the Privateers struggled as a team against the high-powered USMMA attack, but Hayes showed her dominance out of the middle picking up nine kills and a .316 hitting percentage. Sophomore setter Erika Kirchner (Meadowmere Park, N.Y./Lawrence) tallied 19 assists in the the 25-14, 25-12, 25-16 loss.

After a break before the final match of the day, Maritime came out rejuvenated and ready to play hard against Farmingdale St. In the opening frame, close play on both sides led to the set being knotted up at 20-20. However, the Privateers took advantage and won the final five points powered by a big kill at 21-20 by Celyna Custodio (Danbury, Conn./Danbury).

Maritime was out to prove that the first set wasn't a fluke and came out hot in the second set. Custodio picked up a block and a kill on back-to-back points to give the Privateers an 11-5 advantage. However, the Rams started to slowly claw their way back into the match and brought it to a two-point game at 23-21. Two points later, Hayes stepped up for Maritime and powered down a kill to seal the 25-22 win.

Playing to stay in the match, Farmingdale St. came out on a mission in the third set and dominated the tempo of play as they took a 25-16 win. The fourth set got off to a similar start for the Privateers as they trailed 18-12 midway through the set, but that's when Maritime woke up and started to fight back. Kills from Meghan Eagleton (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), Custodio, and Hayes brought it back to 18-15 and kept the Privateers in the match. Hayes started to play well late in the set once again with a kill to keep it within three points at 23-20, but the lead was too much to overcome and Maritime fell 25-21. 

In the fifth and deciding set, the Rams found some good luck in a four-point run to take a 12-5 lead and it was too late for the Privateers to mount a comeback.

Hayes tallied a match-high 14 kills, while Custodio and Abigail Steele also reached double-digits with 12 and 10, respectively. Kirchner dished out 35 assists, while Steele and Abigail Solomos led the defensive effort with 20 and 18 digs, respectively.

Maritime will finish up conference play on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at Yeshiva at 4:30 p.m.