BRONX, NY – On Saturday afternoon, the Maritime College women's volleyball team continued its seven-match road trip with a pair of contests. The Privateers (2-4) suffered a 25-20, 25-17, 25-17 loss to New Jersey City University (8-1) in their first match of the day before rallying to post a 25-16, 25-11, 25-12 victory over host Lehman (0-3) at the Lehman College APEX.
NJCU jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in the first set of Maritime's opening match, but the Privateers rallied with six straight points to tie the score. The Gothic Knights won eight of the next 11 points, though, to go up 16-11. After Maritime rattled off three straight points to pull within 23-20, NJCU took the next two to finish off the set, 25-20.
It was a similar story in the second set, as NJCU again opened up an 8-2 advantage. The Privateers cut their deficit to three at 11-8, but would get no closer. NJCU used a 6-0 spurt to increase the margin to 21-11, and the Gothic Knights took the set by a 25-17 count.
In the third set, the Gothic Knights went up 5-1 before Maritime scored the next three points to pull within one, 5-4. After NJCU used an 11-1 spurt to build a 20-8 cushion, the Privateers responded with a 7-1 rally of their own to make it 21-15. However, Maritime would get no closer, as the Gothic Knights won the set, 25-17, to finish off a 3-0 victory.
Paola Toledo had a match-high nine kills on .474 hitting for NJCU. Sydney Lore finished with 24 assists, 13 digs and three service aces, while Rachel Pharo tallied seven kills and three aces. As a team, the Gothic Knights hit .202 (35 kills, 16 errors, 94 attempts).
For the Privateers,
Celyna Custodio (Danbury, CT) led the way with seven kills on .333 hitting. She also had four blocks.
Meghan Eagleton (Poughkeepsie, NY) tallied six kills and eight digs, while
Jessica Mele (Southold, NY) and
Victoria Cordero (Bronx, NY) contributed eight kills apiece. Setter
Brooke Kirchner (Lawrence, NY) handed out 16 assists to go along with six digs.
Custodio then had 12 kills and hit .579 in the victory over Lehman. Mele just missed a double-double against the Lightning, finishing with eight kills and 10 digs. Kirchner, meanwhile, recorded 22 assists, 11 digs and five aces.
Kelly Kuhn (Lansdale, PA) added three aces, as the Privateers served 12 as a team. Maritime also hit .250 (33-12-84) in the win.
The Privateers took control of the match early on, building an 11-3 cushion to start the first set. After Lehman got within 12-8, Maritime went on a 7-3 run to push the lead back to eight points, 19-11. Three straight kills by Custodio closed out the frame, 25-16.
After Maritime went up 12-4 in set two, Lehman used a 5-1 spurt to trim its deficit to four, 13-9. However, the Privateers responded with nine consecutive points to make it 22-9. A kill by Kirchner finished off the 25-11 set win that gave Maritime a 2-0 lead in the match.
That momentum carried over into the third set, as the Privateers raced out to a 5-0 lead. After Lehman cut the margin to two at 7-5, Maritime scored 12 of the next 15 points to extend its cushion to 19-8. The Lightning trimmed their deficit to 19-11 before Mele slammed a kill to start a match-ending 6-1 Maritime rally. A Custodio kill wrapped up the 25-12 set win in which the Privateers hit .304 (10-3-23) as a team.
Andrea Alarcon paced the Lightning with five kills, and she also tallied seven digs. Heder Rodriguez contributed 10 assists and a team-high eight digs, while Daira Hernandez had seven digs for Lehman.
Maritime (0-1 Skyline) is back in action on Tuesday, when it visits Manhattanville (6-2, 0-0 Skyline) at 7 p.m. It will be the first of three straight conference matches in five days for the Privateers.
