The Maritime College women's volleyball team opened up Skyline Conference play on Tuesday night against a scrappy Mount Saint Vincent team. The Privateers showed their grit once again without senior middle Meredith Hayes (Houston, Texas/St. Agnes Academy), but were unable to come out with a win and fell 13-25, 16-25, 22-25.

The Privateers got off to a hot start behind a strong kill from freshman outside hitter Meghan Eagleton (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and a big block from Celyna Custodio (Danbury, Conn./Danbury) and Abby Steele (Crossville, Tenn./Stone Memorial) as they took an early 3-2 lead. However, with Maritime leading 5-4, the Dolphins went on a serving run and earned 10 straight points to suck all the energy out of the gym for the Privateers. The big run was too much to overcome for Maritime, and they dropped the opening set 13-25.

The momentum continued into the second set for Mount Saint Vincent as they jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but Eagleton stepped up for the Privateers once again and put down a kill and an ace on back-to-back points to bring the score within three. Maritime continued to battle, but found themselves stuck in a rotation in the middle of the set again, and gave up a big serving run as the Dolphins stretched their lead to 14-6. The Privateers kept fighting and cut the lead to six points at 20-14, but they were unable to match the serving run of Mount Saint Vincent and lost 25-16.

In a must win third set, Maritime started to play its best volleyball of the night. Backed by kills from Custodio and Eagleton, the Privateers forced a Dolphins timeout early in the set as they led 6-4. A few points later, Steele stepped up to the serving line and delivered a big ace to give Maritime its biggest lead of the match at 9-5. However, the Dolphins defense started to wake up and get back to digging everything that came their way as they clawed back into the set to eventually tie the score at 14. With the score knotted at 16, Mount Saint Vincent added a kill and two aces to run three consecutive points as they took control late in the set at 19-16. The Privateers kept battling every point, but they couldn't find a way to string together the points they needed and fell 25-22.

Sophomore setter Erika Kirchner (Meadowmere Park, N.Y./Lawrence) dished out 11 assists for Maritime, while Steele, Rylee Malone (Southington, Conn./University High School of Science & Engineering), and Abby Solomos (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Mt. Sinai) all played very well defensively picking up six digs each. Offensively, Eagleton was stellar on the outside, totaling five kills on 14 attempts with no errors for a .357 hitting percentage. Custodio chipped in five kills of her own from the middle position, while Steele tallied three kills.

Maritime is back in action this weekend as they travel to the College of Staten Island on Saturday for a tri-match against the Dolphins and New Jersey City University. The Privateers will then return home on Monday, Oct. 1 for a non-conference matchup with Brooklyn College before getting back to Skyline play on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at Purchase College.