Box Score Sept. 17, 2014

Final Stats

BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins volleyball team secured its fourth win of the season Wednesday night, taking down previously one-loss Susquehanna, 3-1 with scores of 26-24, 19-25, 25-13, and 25-23. The Blue Jays outhit the visiting Crusaders in each set.

The first set was a back and forth tilt with four lead changes and 14 ties throughout. Play was sloppy on both sides, as Susquehanna had four service errors and four ball handling errors in the first set, while Hopkins tallied five and three of its own. Luckily for the Jays, they outhit the visitors .414 to .250 in the set and had zero attack errors. Mereze Visagie led the Jays with four kills in the frame, including the game-winner on a quick-hit in the middle.

The second set was close early, before the Crusaders used a 3-0 run to give themselves some breathing room, making the score 18-14. The Crusaders had a kill sandwiched between kills from Ali Cox and Ally Hirsch, making it 19-16. Four Crusader kills, and a Blue Jays hitting and ball-handling error later, and the visitors had won the second set, 25-19.

The third set was all Blue Jays from the opening serve, running out to a 10-3 lead, with four of those Hopkins points coming by way of Cox kills. Susquehanna started to show signs of life, getting back into the match as the score stood 11-6 after a Liz Wuerstle blocking error. After an Erica Johnston kill, Stephanie Yokoyama wrapped two services aces around a kill from Hirsch to pump the Jays lead to 15-6. From there the Jays didn't look back, cruising to an easy 25-13 win while hitting .357 in the set.

The fourth set showed the resilience of the Blue Jays, as they battled back after being down 12-7 early. The Jays used four consecutive kills from Wuerstle, Cox, Hirsch, and Visagie, followed by Anne Cohen ace to take an 18-16 lead. After a Susquehanna block, the teams traded hitting errors, bringing the score to 19-18 before Cox and Kristi Rhead blocked a Crusader attack, making it 20-18. After a visiting kill, Hirsch and Johnston pounded two of their own home.

Susquehanna answered with a kill of their own, followed by a powerful right-handed kill by Rhead. Visagie made it 24-21 with her ninth kill of the night, but a Wuerstle hitting error and a Crusader block kept the door open for the visitors. With the score 24-23, Visagie pounded home her 10th kill of the match, and gave the home team a 25-23 victory.

As a team, the Jays hit .250 on the night, with 50 kills. The attack tonight was balanced, with Cox leading the way with 11 kills. Visagie and Hirsch weren't far behind with 10 and nine, respectively, while Wuerstle and Rhead each added eight of their own. Rhead also tallied 22 assists and 13 digs, tying her on the night with Yokoyama. As usual Cohen led the way defensively with 16 digs, while junior setter Carolyn Zin provided 10 assists, eight digs, and her contagious on-floor energy.

The Blue Jays will travel this weekend to Elizabethtown, PA to the Elizabethtown Blue Jay Classic. Hopkins will play York (PA) Friday at 4 p.m. before taking on SUNY New Paltz at 8 p.m. The Jays will wrap up the tournament on Saturday playing Lebanon Valley at 11 a.m. before taking on the host Blue Jays at 3 p.m.