BROOKLYN, NY - Despite winning the first frame, the Maritime College women's volleyball team dropped a non-conference match in four sets (25-22, 20-25, 13-25, 18-25) on Thursday evening at Pratt Institute.

Maritime found success relying on their defense in the opening set as they held the Cannoneers to a .083 hitting percentage to secure a 25-22 win. Of the Privateers final four points, Erika Kirchner (Meadowmere Park, N.Y./Lawrence) contributed two kills, and an assist.

In the second set, Maritime took an early 5-2 lead with points coming from four different players. With Pratt holding a 21-10 leads in the set, Maritime regained their focus and went on a 10-1 run to make it 22-20. However, that would be as close as the Privateers would get as the hosts responded with three straight points to even the match up.

The third set spelled trouble for Maritime as they fell into a large deficit early, falling behind 19-4. Despite closing out the set on a 9-6 run, it was too late to mount the comeback, and the Privateers fell behind, 2-1.
 
Needing to win the fourth set to continue the match, Maritime grabbed a 9-8 lead following three straight Cannoneer errors. An ace from Rebecca Garcia (Yonkers, NY/Academy of Mount St. Ursula) later in the set would cut into Pratt's lead, 19-15. Despite benefiting from Cannoneer service errors as the set continued, the Privateers unfortunately couldn't break through, and lost the fourth set, 25-18.

Abby Steele (Crossville, Tenn./Stone Memorial) led the Privateers with six kills, while Kirchner filled the box score with 11 assists, nine digs, and two aces. Defensively, Rylee Malone (Southington, Conn./University High School of Science & Engineering) had 11 digs and Meghan Eagleton (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) contributed five digs as well. Abby Solomos (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Mt. Sinai) and Rebecca Garcia (Yonkers, NY/Academy of Mount St. Ursula) each had two aces.

The Privateers will look to get back to their winning ways on Saturday and Sunday when they travel to King's Point, NY to compete in the annual Maritime Classic, hosted by the United States Merchant Marine Academy. On Saturday, Maritime will take on Maine Maritime at noon, followed by a double header on Sunday, with Mass Maritime and Merchant Marine.