The Maritime College women's volleyball team traveled to Rutgers-Newark on Saturday afternoon for a tough tri-match that included Baruch College. The Privateers were unable to come away with a win as they fell to Baruch 3-0 and Rutgers-Newark 3-1.

The Privateers opened up the day with Baruch College, where they stayed even with the Bearcats in the opening set until a five-point run, which gave them a 23-16 lead. Baruch was able to hold onto the lead and take the first set 25-17. The following set saw a similar pattern as Maritime only trailed by three points at 15-18, but ended up dropping the final seven points. 

In the third set, the Bearcats jumped out to a quick 14-4 lead. However, Maritime wasn't done yet and put together a furious comeback, which unfortunately fell short as they lost the final set 25-17. Celyna Custodio (Danbury, Conn./Danbury) finished the match with a .412 hitting percentage and eight kills, while Erika Kirchner (Meadowmere Park, N.Y./Lawrence) dished out 17 assists. Defensively, Abby Steele (Crossville, Tenn./Stone Memorial) and Abby Solomos (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Mt. Sinai) led the way with 10 digs each.

In the next match, the Privateers dropped the opening set to Rutgers Newark 25-11, but found a way to battle back and steal the second set 27-25. Rutgers Newark led 15-6 at one point in the second set, but that's when Maritime made their run. Maritime won seven of the next eight points to cut the lead to three and then a 6-0 run gave them 19-18 advantage. Rutgers Newark ended up saving two set points before back-to-back kills from Steele and Custodio sealed the second set win.

Unfortunately, Maritime was unable to transfer that momentum into the final two sets and they fell by scores of 25-8 and 25-10. Steele led the offense with eight kills and .250 hitting percentage while Kirchner tallied 20 assists. Defensively, three Privateers reached double-digit digs: Rylee Malone (Southington, Conn./University High School of Science & Engineering) (12), Steele (11), Solomos (11).

The Privateers will look to get back in the win column next Tuesday when they travel to Brooklyn College.