Oct. 14, 2009

Box Score

LANCASTER, PA - The Johns Hopkins volleyball team threw a huge scare into home-standing and favored Franklin & Marshall, but the host Diplomats rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit and knocked off the Blue Jays 23-25, 24-26, 26-24, 25-20, 15-4 at the Mayser Center Wednesday night. Franklin & Marshall improves to 20-5 overall and 6-1 in the Centennial Conference, while Johns Hopkins slips to 13-9 overall and 2-4 in the Centennial.

After knotting the match at two games apiece, the Diplomats wasted little time taking control of the fifth game as Caitlin Krustick served up five straight points to help F&M jump to a 7-1 advantage. The Blue Jays got as close as 8-3, but F&M never allowed the JHU to get going and Stephanie Armstrong served out the last two points to secure the 15-4 win in the fifth game.

The first three games were back-and-forth throughout with the Blue Jays taking the first two before the Diplomats jumped back in the match with the two-point win in game three. The Blue Jays led by as many as eight at 19-11 in the first game before holding off a late rally to take the 25-23 win. F&M held a 20-17 lead in the second game, but Amelia Thomas served up four straight points to give the Blue Jays the lead and Hopkins tallied 10 of the last 14 points in the game to take the victory.

The third game was tight throughout as there were 13 ties, including one at 24-24 with the Blue Jays holding serve. A Sydney Seydel kill and a hitting error by the Blue Jays gave the game to the Diplomats, who used that momentum to rally for the five-game victory.

Johns Hopkins was led by senior Allison Cappelaere's 15 kills on the night. Alex Zenoff continued her recent surge as she totaled 14 kills and just one error on 33 attack attempts. Sarah Feicht was the third and final Blue Jay to reach double-figures in kills as she added 11. Katie Buckheit and Thomas both totaled 23 digs and freshman Becky Paynter added 43 assist to help lead the way for Johns Hopkins.

F&M got a match-high 18 kills from Nicole Morano and Seydel added 10 kills to lead a pack of five players who collected between six and 10 kills in the victory. Kerry Rom totaled 25 digs and Pam Horner dished out 53 assists as the Diplomats his .249 as a team.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, October 17 when the Blue Jays welcome Muhlenberg to Goldfarb Gymnasium for another Centennial Conference match. That is also the day that Johns Hopkins will take its fight against cancer to the court as the Blue Jays will take part in the Centennial's "Digging For a Cure" initiative.

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