The Maritime College women's volleyball team dropped its season opener to John Jay on Tuesday night in straight sets. The Privateers battled hard from start to finish but just couldn't quite overcome the strong performance from the Bloodhounds.

Maritime got off to a hot start in the opening set as they jumped ahead off a kill from Erica Pagano (Lawrence, NY/Lawrence). However, John Jay was able to stick around and eventually made a big run of their own to steal the lead and take control of the first set. Trailing 12-14, the Privateers couldn't find their rhythm on offense and the Bloodhounds took advantage and won the opening set 25-13.

The second and third sets saw similar struggles for Maritime as they hung around early and battled John Jay for each point, but ultimately couldn't stop the momentum late in the sets. The Bloodhounds went on to win the final two sets 25-17 and 25-12 to improve to 1-0 while Maritime fell to 0-1.

Meghan Eagleton (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) led the Privateers offensive effort by tallying eight kills on 21 attempts for a solid .286 hitting percentage. Brooke Kirchner (Lawrence, NY/Lawrence) also turned in a good performance with seven assists and four kills. Erica Pagano (Lawrence, NY/Lawrence) led the defensive side with nine digs.

Maritime will take on Brooklyn College next on Monday, Sep. 13 at 7 PM in Riesenberg Hall.