THROGGS NECK, NY – The Maritime College volleyball team returned to Riesenberg Gymnasium on Tuesday night for a non-conference match against John Jay.  After dropping the first two sets, the Privateers (2-9) rallied to win the third before the Bloodhounds (9-8) closed out a 25-13, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22 victory.

Maritime jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the first set before John Jay went on a 13-3 run to open up a 16-8 advantage.  The Privateers scored the next four points to cut their deficit to 16-12, but the Bloodhounds ended the set on a 9-1 rally to earn a 25-13 win.

Three successive service aces by Erica Pagano (Lawrence, NY) gave Maritime an 8-2 edge in the second set, prompting a John Jay timeout.  The Bloodhounds came out firing after the timeout, though, rattling off 17 of the next 22 points to take a 19-13 advantage.  Maritime responded with a four-point spurt of its own to pull within two, 19-17, but John Jay immediately pushed the margin back to six at 23-17.  The Bloodhounds eventually took the set by a 25-20 count.

In the third set, there were 12 ties and five lead changes.  Maritime opened up a 12-9 advantage before John Jay came back to tie it at 13-13.  After the Privateers regained a 16-13 edge, the Privateers used a 6-2 rally to regain the lead, 19-18.  The teams traded points until it was 23-23, when Maritime got a block from Kelly Kuhn (Lansdale, PA) and Carolina Bersani (Bronx, NY) to reach set point.  John Jay committed a hitting error on the next point, giving the Privateers the set, 25-23.

After John Jay took a 7-3 lead in the fourth set, the Privateers scored six points in a row, going ahead 9-8 on a Celyna Custodio (Danbury, CT) kill.  An ace by Brooke Kirchner (Lawrence, NY) made it 15-13 before the Bloodhounds went on a 9-2 rally to build a 22-17 cushion.  Maritime pulled back within one at 22-21, but would get no closer, as John Jay won the set, 25-22, to close out the 3-1 victory.

Custodio paced the Privateers with nine kills, while Pagano had five kills to go along with four aces and a match-high 18 digs.  Bersani finished with 13 digs and Victoria Cordero (Bronx, NY) added 12 digs, as Maritime held a 59-57 advantage in that category.  Kirchner, meanwhile, posted 21 assists and four aces for the Privateers.

For the Bloodhounds, Johnelle Pierre and Faith Harer led the way with eight kills apiece.  Harer also had four aces.  Meghan Smith served four aces to go along with 23 assists and seven digs, while Saeryn O'Bleness distributed 10 assists.  Kristin Gretener posed a team-best 11 digs.

This began a stretch where Maritime plays eight matches in 12 days.  The Privateers (1-4 Skyline) resume their Skyline Conference schedule with a 6 p.m. visit to Old Westbury (4-6, 2-3 Skyline) on Thursday.