With the regular season coming to a close the Johns Hopkins Volleyball team pulled even for the week by winning two matches and losing two matches, ending the regular season at .500 with a 20-20 record. In the team's final regular season Centennial Conference match, the Blue Jays dismantled the McDaniel Green Terror with a 3-0 sweep of the match. The team then travelled to Messiah College for the Messiah College Invitational where the Blue Jays finished in fifth place with a 1-2 record in the tournament.
Last Wednesday, the Lady Jays hosted McDaniel in their final Centennial Conference regular season game, earning their eighth Conference victory and pushing their Conference record to 8-2. The Lady Jays easily handled the Green Terror, winning all three games in the match, finishing with scores of 30-18, 30-20, and 30-23.
Junior Stephanie Kaliades led the team in kills with 11. In addition to leading the team in kills, Kaliades' 11 aces tied the school record for aces in a three-game match.
Junior Samantha Raggi finished second on the team in kills with eight. Sophomore Skye Young added seven kills.
Sophomore setter Betsy Baydala earned 17 assists to lead the team. Senior Courtney Cromwell finished second in assists with 11.
Last Saturday the Lady Jays travelled to Grantham, PA for the Messiah Invitational where the team defeated Marymount, but lost to host Messiah and Catholic.
Hopkins began the tournament against Messiah, falling in three straight games to lose the match. All three games were close with 27-30, 28-30 and 31-33 scores, but the Jays could not pull ahead.
Kaliades led the team in kills with 12. Raggi contributed nine kills while Young added seven. Baydala led the team in assists with 29.
The second game of the day was against nationally ranked Catholic, who the Jays failed to top in two previous matches.
The Jays failed to score a victory, falling in five games. The Blue Jays lost the first two games, won the second two but failed to complete their comeback in the fifth game falling 11-15.
Freshman Kate O'Callaghan, moved to the outside hitter, totalled a team high 15 kills and 18 digs for the Blue Jays. Senior Elisabeth Breese added 14 kills. Cromwell earned 29 assists and 16 digs, while Baydala earned 18 assists and 18 digs.
In the team's final match of the day, the Blue Jays easily defeated Marymount. The Jays won in straight games finishing 30-21, 30-16 and 30-22 to earn the victory.
Freshman Jen Hajj led the team with 12 kills in the match. Raggi earned nine kills. O'Callaghan totalled seven kills.
"I think we used this weekend to get ready for next weekend." said O'Callaghan referring to the Centennial Conference tournament this weekend.
The Volleyball team will return to action this Saturday at the Centennial Conference tournament. They will face Franlin & Marshall in the first match of the tournament.
If the team is succesful in that match, then they will advance to the finals, set to begin 40 minutes after the semifinals.
"I think we are ready for them [Franklin & Marshall] this time." added O'Callaghan. "We are determined to win the Conference this year.
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