St. Mary’s Rallies Past Brandywine

MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine won the first set, but St. Mary's (MD) rallied to win the next three and spoiled the Lions' volleyball home opener by a 3-1 count on Wednesday night.

The Seahawks opened the match with an ace before four consecutive Brandywine points gave the Lions a lead they would not relinquish during the opening set. Kills by Sydney Stevens (Wilmington, Del./Alexis I. DuPoint) and Anna Ramirez (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) plus an SMC error later pushed the margin to 10-4 and Brandywine continued to pull away, stretching the lead as large as 11 points at 19-8. Brandywine took the opening frame by a 25-16 count.

St. Mary's evened the match at 1-1 as the visitors led wire-to-wire during set No. 2. Kills from Savannah Bauer (San Jose, Calif./Santa Teresa) and Laura Jezyk (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) brought Brandywine within two at 10-8, but the Seahawks netted five of the next six points and pulled away to claim the set 25-17.

The teams were tied 13-all during the third set, but St. Mary's jumped into the lead with three-straight kills. Brandywine narrowed the margin to two points on three occasions and climbed within one when Ramirez notched a kill that made the score 23-22; however, the Seahawks received back-to-back kills to end the set.

St. Mary's opened up a lead of 18-9 during the final frame and had to hold off a Brandywine rally. Kills by Ramirez and Amanda Floyd (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro), along with a St. Mary's error and three consecutive service aces from Stevens, drew Brandywine within three; however, St. Mary's countered with four-straight kills and later finished off the set with consecutive kills.

Ramirez recorded a match-high 17 kills and collected nine digs, while Floyd set down six kills and Jezyk dished out 31 assists. Jezyk added two aces and eight digs and Stevens amassed five aces.

Defensively, Suzie Alvarenga (Fullerton, Calif./Notre Dame Academy) led all players with 30 digs, while Stevens registered nine digs and Floyd produced six digs and one block.

Brandywine (0-2) is back at home Saturday to host Bryn Athyn (10:00 AM) and Ursinus (2:00 PM) in a tri-match.