BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins volleyball team suffered its first home loss of the season at the hands of Muhlenberg on Saturday afternoon, 17-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-21.

The Blue Jays started the match strong, dominating the first set after getting out to a quick 4-1 start. Mulenberg worked its way back into the match, and the score sat at 16-11 before Hopkins notched four-straight points to make the score 20-11. The Mules hung tough, and some unforced Jays errors made the score 22-17, before a Mereze Visagie kill followed by two Liz Wuerstle aces ended the set.

The second set saw the visitors get off to a quick start, up 12-6 before a timeout by Hopkins. Following the timeout, Hopkins had a kill by Wuerstle in-between two kills by classmate Kristi Rhead before Anne Cohen tallied a service ace, bringing the score to 12-10. The teams traded scores, before the Mules stretched its lead to 21-17. Hopkins used kills by Rhead, Erica Johnston, and another Cohen ace to bring it back to 21-20. But four Muhlenberg points tallied via a block, two kills by Katherine Boll, and a kill by Allison Glass ended the set.

The third set was close throughout, with no team really controlling momentum throughout. The Mules looked to have control at 16-12, but the Jays rallied back, with two Ali Cox kills sandwiched around a Carolyn Zin ace. Back-to-back kills by Boll followed by a Nikki Dickson ace and a Hopkins ball-handling error pushed the Mules lead to 20-15. The teams traded points, bringing the score to 24-20, before kills by Wuerstle and Visagie made it 24-22. With tensions high, the Mules ball-handling error left the door open for Hopkins to tie it at 24. However a service error by Rhead ended the set, 25-23.

The fourth set was back and forth early, before the Blue Jays appeared to be in control with the score at 15-9 following a Visagie kill. But Muhlenberg climbed back, using some Hopkins errors and good blocking and serving to get to within two at 15-13. After a kill by Visagie, a blocking error by the Jays opened the floodgates to a 4-0 Mules run, featuring three kills by Glass and another ace by Dickson, one of her six on the day. From there the Mules never relinquished the lead again, en route to a 25-21 win.

The Jays will be back in action next weekend as they travel to Swarthmore to take on the host as well Neumann. The match against Swarthmore is scheduled to start at noon, while the Neumann match is slataed for a 2 p.m. start.