WAYNE, NJ – The Maritime College volleyball team played a pair of matches on Saturday afternoon.  After falling 25-19, 25-8, 25-22 to Brooklyn (14-12), the Privateers (2-15) fell to host William Paterson (11-15) by a 25-14, 25-17, 25-15 count at the Sports & Recreation Center.

Maritime jumped out to a 5-2 advantage in the first set of its match against Brooklyn, but the Bulldogs rallied to go ahead 14-10.  The Privateers tied it 15-15 on a Celyna Custodio (Danbury, CT) kill before Brooklyn ended the set on a 10-4 run to earn a 25-19 win.

After Brooklyn took a 7-1 lead in the second set, the Privateers rattled off four straight points to cut their deficit to 7-5.  The Bulldogs scored 18 of the final 21 points, though, to wrap up a 25-8 set win.

There were 10 ties in a back-and-forth third set.  Brooklyn opened up a 9-3 cushion before Maritime countered with a 12-4 run to take a 15-13 advantage.  The Bulldogs regained the lead, 22-20, then reached match point at 24-21.  After Maritime fought off the first match point, Brooklyn finished off the set, 25-22, and the match, 3-0.

Erica Pagano (Lawrence, NY) led the Privateers with six kills, and she added two blocks.  Jessica Mele (Southold, NY) had a team-high nine digs, while Brooke Kirchner (Lawrence, NY) tallied seven digs to go along with 12 assists.  She also recorded a pair of service aces.

Emma Steele and Tessa Winkleman paced Brooklyn with eight kills apiece.  Ashley Fung contributed seven kills and 13 digs, while Aleah Rafat added seven kills of her own.  Sydney Gdanski handed out 16 assists, and Katia Mercado had 11 assists for the Bulldogs, who hit .229 (37 kills, 15 errors, 96 attempts) as a team.

In the Privateers' second match of the day, they fell behind 13-4 in the first set against William Paterson.  After the Pioneers extended their advantage to 22-9, Maritime rallied for five of the next seven points.  William Paterson took the next point, however, to close out the set, 25-14.

Custodio smashed three kills and Kirchner served an ace to open the second set, as Maritime jumped out to a 5-0 lead.  William Paterson battled back, however, scoring six of the next eight points to trim its deficit to one, 7-6.  The Pioneers eventually built a 19-10 cushion before the Privateers went on a 5-1 run to get back within 20-15.  William Paterson ended the set on a 5-2 spurt, though, notching a 25-17 win that put the Pioneers ahead 2-0 in the match.

William Paterson then took control of the third set early on, building a 10-2 margin.  Mele served back-to-back aces to get the Privateers back within six at 18-12, but the Pioneers countered with four of the next five points to push their lead to 22-13.  William Paterson finished off the sweep with a 25-15 set win.

For the Privateers, Custodio led the way offensively with eight kills on .273 hitting.  Victoria Cordero (Bronx, NY) finished with a match-high 16 digs, and Mele notched 13 digs to go along with four aces.  Kirchner, meanwhile, handed out 12 assists.

Kathleen Burrough, Abigail Herring and Carissa Ostolaza tallied seven kills apiece for William Paterson.  Beatriz Soares registered six kills and eight digs, while Paola Molina contributed a team-best 12 digs to go along with six aces and four assists.  Alyssa Roccuzzo distributed 11 assists, and Alexa Jarvis was credited with 10 assists.  As a team, the Pioneers hit .231 (37-13-104) in the match.

On Tuesday, Maritime (1-8 Skyline) concludes its home schedule by welcoming Mount St. Mary (10-12, 5-3 Skyline) to Riesenberg Gymnasium at 7 p.m.  The Privateers will honor their three seniors—Custodio, Kirchner and Pagano—prior to the contest.