The Maritime College women's volleyball team traveled to the United States Merchant Marine Academy for the annual Maritime Cup on Saturday afternoon where they took on Maine Maritime in their opening match. Unfortunately, the Privateers fell to the Mariners in three sets with scores of 25-10, 25-9, and 25-15. 

Offensively, Maritime struggled in the opening two sets as they totaled a negative hitting percentage, but they found their stride in set three totaling seven kills and just one error for a .273 percentage.

Slow starts in the first two sets hampered the Privateers ability to compete for a lead, but in the third set early kills from Celyna Custodio (Danbury, Conn./Danbury) and Erica Pagano (Lawrence, NY/Lawrence) kept the score close at 4-3. Later in the set, two kills from outside hitters Meghan Eagleton (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and Abby Steele (Crossville, Tenn./Stone Memorial) fueled a three-point run, which cut the lead to six points. However, the powerful offensive attack from Maine was too much to handle for the Privateers and they couldn't complete a third set comeback.

Custodio led the offense with three kills, while Pagano and Katie Solinsky (East Lyme, CT/East Lyme) both tallied two kills and a positive hitting percentage on the day. Erika Kirchner (Meadowmere Park, N.Y./Lawrence) dished out nine assists. Rylee Malone (Southington, Conn./University High School of Science & Engineering) led the defensive effort with seven digs.

The Privateers will look to bounce back tomororow when they take on Mass. Maritime and USMMA at 12 and 2 p.m., respectively.