Sept. 29, 2009

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The Dickinson College volleyball team rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit for a thrilling 3-2 win over host Johns Hopkins Tuesday night at Goldfarb Gymnasium. The Devils led 10-6 in the deciding game before holding off a late rally by Johns Hopkins and secured the deciding game, 15-13, on a kill by Elitsa Gosheva.

Dickinson jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fifth game and led 10-6 after a kill by Lauren Yura, but the Blue Jays fought back and pulled within 14-13 on a Melissa Cole ace and a Sarah Feicht kill. Dickinson put a quick end to the rally as Gosheva's match-ending kill came just after Feicht's kill have given the Blue Jays life.

Johns Hopkins eased to a 25-5 win in the first game as the Blue Jays jumped to a 9-1 lead and needed less than 10 minutes to take the game. A hard-fought 25-23 win in game two for the Blue Jays was capped by a Becky Paynter kill. Dickinson fought off two match points before Paynter's game-clincher, but the Devils had grabbed some momentum and carried that to wins in the third (25-22) and fourth games (25-23).

Hopkins never led after the teams were tied at 8-8 in the third game, but held a 22-21 lead in game four after scoring a point on a Paynter serve, only to see the Devils take four of the final five points to force the deciding game. A Yura block sealed the game-four win for Dickinson, which earned just its second win over Johns Hopkins in the last 23 meetings between the two teams with the victory.

Yura led the Devils with 14 kills and 16 digs, while Gosheva added six kills and 12 digs. Chelsea Winkert totaled 35 assists, 17 digs and three kills, while Amanda Hayes added 27 digs to help lead the comeback.

Alex Zenoff posted a team-high 11 kills for the Blue Jays, who also got seven kills and 14 digs from Allison Cappelaere. Paynter dished out 35 assists and added 13 digs and four kills.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday at Haverford, where the Blue Jays will take on the 22nd-ranked Fords and 23rd-ranked Eastern.

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