BOX SCORE JAMAICA, N.Y.—The York College women's volleyball team rallied to force a fifth set against Maritime College but came up a bit short, losing by a score of 3-2 (25-16, 23-25, 25-9, 14-25, 15-11) at the York College Gym on Wednesday night.
In the first set, York took an early 3-0 lead after a pair of blocks, but Maritime quickly erased the deficit and took its first advantage at 7-6, following a kill by Gabrielle Kempski. The Privateers would not relinquish the lead from there, scoring six of the next eight points to make it 13-8. Another run shortly after put the set out of reach for the Cardinals. Kempski led the way with five kills in the opening set.
York once again took an early lead in the second set, thanks in part to
Stayce Kay Muirhead, who had a pair of kills and a block on three straight points, giving York a 6-3 advantage. The Cardinals maintained that three-point lead until four straight Maritime points put the Privateers ahead, 13-12. This time, York would rebound and took back the lead after some strong serving by
Shauncia McClendon. Three aces out of five serves by McClendon put York on top, 18-13. The Cardinals would hold on to win the set despite a late run by the Privateers, who rallied from down 23-16, to get within one point at 23-22.
Maritime came out on fire to start the third set, scoring the first eight points. Maritime's Alyssa Esposito served during the stretch and recorded several aces. That deficit would be too much to climb out of, as the Cardinals continued to struggle returning serves. The Privateers notched ten aces in the set en route to a commanding, 25-9 win.
York responded in the fourth set with their own hot start, taking a 5-0 lead.
Renee Daley had a block and a kill on consecutive points to lead the way. York maintained a comfortable advantage throughout and forced a fifth set.
In the final set, York took its first lead at 5-4 after two straight Muirhead kills. But Maritime retook the lead, 9-6, thanks to Shannon Brady, who slammed down a kill and then served up three straight aces. The Cardinals could not recover from that stretch and lost the fifth set, 15-11.
The Cardinals nearly overcame a negative hitting percentage on the evening (-.008). Maritime hit slightly better (.089) and had a 17-12 edge on aces.
York was led by Muirhead, who finished with ten kills and two blocks. McClendon added four kills, four aces and five digs. Libero
Allison Li had a season-high 20 digs.
Kiranjeet Kaur added 18 assists and nine digs.
Maritime was paced by Brady, who led all players with 11 kills and Kempski who added ten kills.
The loss drops York's record to 1-11, while Maritime improves to 5-6. The Cardinals return to action with a tri-match on Saturday at Manhattanville College. They face Manhattanville at 1 p.m. and Mount Saint Mary College at 3:00 p.m.
