THROGGS NECK, NY – The Maritime College volleyball team honored its three seniors—Celyna Custodio (Danbury, CT), Brooke Kirchner (Lawrence, NY) and Erica Pagano (Lawrence, NY)—prior to its final home match of the season on Tuesday night.  After losing the first two sets, the Privateers (2-17, 1-9 Skyline) rallied to win the third before ultimately suffering a 25-12, 25-7, 22-25, 25-12 defeat against Mount St. Mary (11-13, 6-4 Skyline) at Riesenberg Gymnasium.

Mount St. Mary jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first set and never looked back.  The Privateers responded with three straight points to get within 9-6 before the Knights went on an 11-2 run to extend their advantage to 20-8.  Mount St. Mary took the opening set by a 25-12 count.

After the Knights captured the first three points of the second set, Custodio smashed a kill to start a Maritime rally that leveled the score at 3-3.  Mount St. Mary scored 22 of the final 26 points in the set, though, to close out a 25-7 win and go ahead 2-0 in the match.

Maritime wouldn't go down quietly, though, storming out of the gate in the third set.  The Privateers started the frame by claiming the first four points, and eventually extended the margin to 11-3.  With Maritime leading 21-13, Mount St. Mary went on a 6-0 run to trim its deficit to two, 21-19.  The Knights pulled within one at 23-22 before a hitting error brought the Privateers to match point.  Custodio then pounded a kill to finish off the set, 25-22, and extend the match.

That momentum didn't carry into the fourth set, however.  Maritime scored the first point of the set before Mount St. Mary followed with nine of the next 10 to open up a 9-2 cushion.  The Knights won the fourth set by a 25-12 margin to earn a 3-1 victory.

Custodio finished with 10 kills to move into second place on the Privateers' all-time list.  She also had eight digs.  Jessica Mele (Southold, NY) recorded seven kills and 11 digs, while Victoria Cordero (Bronx, NY) tallied a match-high 13 digs.  Kirchner contributed eight digs to go along with 22 assists.

Grace Riddle led the Knights with 11 kills.  Mary Milano added nine kills and nine digs, while Fran Cammarata posted 28 assists, nine digs and six service aces.  Angelyse Orellana registered eight digs for Mount St. Mary, which held a 55-50 edge in that category.  As a team, the Knights hit .218 (41 kills, 17 errors, 110 attempts) in the match.

On Thursday, Maritime concludes Skyline Conference play with a 7 p.m. matchup at Farmingdale (13-7, 9-1 Skyline).