NEW YORK – On Sunday afternoon, the Maritime College volleyball team opened its Skyline Conference schedule by taking on Yeshiva.  The Privateers (2-1, 1-0 Skyline) swept the Maccabees (0-3, 0-2 Skyline) for the ninth consecutive time, earning a 25-16, 25-14, 25-9 win at ARC Arena.

After Yeshiva scored the first point of the match, Maritime rattled off eight in a row to open up an 8-1 lead.  The Maccabees got within 9-6 on three straight Talia Finn service aces, but the Privateers responded with a 6-0 rally to push the margin back to nine, 15-6.  Yeshiva trimmed its deficit to four points at 19-15 before Jessica Mele (Southold, NY) smashed a kill to start a 5-0 run that brought Maritime to set point, and the Privateers took the frame by a 25-16 count.

In the second set, the Privateers raced out to a 4-1 advantage before the Maccabees went on a 3-0 run to tie it at 4-4.  Maritime scored 15 of the next 20 points, though, to build a 19-9 lead.  After three straight Yeshiva points, the Privateers countered with five of their own to reach set point.  A kill by Kelly Kuhn (Lansdale, PA) wrapped up the 25-14 set win that gave Maritime a 2-0 lead in the match.

The teams traded points early in the third set until a 9-0 Maritime spurt turned a 4-4 tie into a 13-4 Privateers lead.  The run would reach 17-2, as Maritime opened up a 21-6 advantage.  Back-to-back Mele kills finished off the set, 25-9, and the 3-0 sweep.

Mele posted a match-high eight kills, while Diana Rodriguez (Queens, NY) tallied four kills on .375 hitting.  Ashley Pavarini (Ossining, NY) distributed 17 assists to go along with five aces, and Samantha Hart (Brooklyn, NY) added five aces of her own.  Victoria Cordero (Bronx, NY), meanwhile, recorded with a team-best eight digs.  As a team, Maritime hit .141 (23 kills, 14 errors, 64 attempts) in the win.

Finn had five kills and four aces for the Maccabees.  Zoey Botnick handed out six assists, while Ashley Botnick tallied a match-high nine digs, as Yeshiva held a 27-22 edge in that category.

Up next for the Privateers is a 6 p.m. contest at Lehman (1-2) on Tuesday.  It will be the last of three successive road matches for Maritime.