The Basics 
• Scores: #1 Johns Hopkins-3, Gettysburg-2 (25-18, 25-27, 25-27, 25-9, 15-9)
• Records: JHU (28-0) - Gettysburg (15-9) 
• Location: Baltimore, MD • Goldfarb Gymnasium
• The Short Story: Despite falling behind 2-1, Johns Hopkins dominated the final two sets to defeat Gettysburg 3-2 in the Centennial Conference Semifinals on Saturday afternoon. Simone Bliss returned to the court for the first time since late September to help lead Hopkins to victory. 

How it Happened 

1st Set
• The Blue Jays started off Saturday's semifinal with a 25-18 set victory, using a 14-3 run to end the set. 

• With the Blue Jays leading 4-3, Gettysburg went on a 7-2 run to jump ahead 10-6. A kill from Cat Holtz and a pair of Blue Jay errors made it 6-4 Gettysburg before a service error gave it back to Hopkins. The Jays gave it back on a service error before Elayna Williams made it 7-6 with a kill. The Bullets took the next three points with a kill from Olivia Biggs and an ace from Callie Pidoriano. 

• The Blue Jays cut the deficit to 13-11, getting kills from Williams, Lauren Anthony, Simone Bliss and Sydney Portale. Zanze Kua-McCoy scored the next two points, getting a kill and an ace to extend the lead back to four for Gettysburg. 

• An attack error on the Bullets sparked the 14-3 Blue Jay run to finish the set. Trailing 17-16, Portale picked up a kill to side out for the Jays and tie the match. After a pair of attack errors on Gettysburg, Williams added another kill to make it 20-17. The Bullets committed two more errors before Kuba-McCoy ended the 6-0 run and made it 22-18. 

• The Blue Jays took the final three points with a kill from Williams and a pair of errors for the Bullets to win the first set 25-18. 


2nd Set
• Despite trailing 19-16, the Bullets battled back to take the second set and make sure it was a ballgame inside Goldfarb Gymnasium.

• In a 3-3 game, the Bullets took the next four points, getting a service error from Bliss and a pair of aces from Kuba-McCoy. Now trailing 7-3, Williams struck back for Hopkins with back-to-back kills, but an attack error on Portale gave it back to Gettysburg. 

• With the Bullets now leading 9-8, Olivia Biggs picked up a kill and a Blue Jay attack error gave them an 11-8 lead. Bliss responded with back-to-back kills, cutting the deficit to one. After trading points back and forth, Kuba-McCoy earned a kill to make it 14-12 Bullets. 

• Hopkins took the next four points, getting kills from Eleni Panagopoulos and Williams and a pair of errors on Gettysburg. The Bullets got kills from Jordryn Horowitz and Holtz to tie it at 16-16. 

• A quick 3-0 run with a pair of aces from Roxy Karrer made it 19-16 Hopkins, but the Bullets had a major response in them. A kill from Horowitz made it 19-17, but Anthony answered back to keep the Hopkins lead three. 

• Horowitz picked up thr next kill, starting a 4-0 run to retake the lead for Gettysburg, Kuba-McCoy added a kill in the run, as well. Aston called her own number to end the run, tying the set at 21-21. The to-and-fro continued as the Bullets took the next two before a 3-0 Blue Jay run with kills from Bliss and Panagopoulos. 

• Leading 24-23 on set point, Kuba-McCoy responded for the Bullets and tied it at 24. An attack error gave Gettysburg the advantage, but Portale tied it once more. Kuba-McCoy took over once more, getting a kill and an ace to end the set in favor of Gettysburg, 27-25. 

3rd Set 
• The third set ended with the exact same score, a 27-25 Gettysburg set victory, putting the Bullets ahead of the top-seeded Blue Jays, 2-1. 

• The Bullets jumped ahead 5-3 early in the third set on an ace from Sophie Nasir, but Williams responded with a kill and an attack error tied it 5-5. Both teams traded back and forth before a Panagopoulos kill put the Blue Jays ahead 9-8. 

• Gettysburg took the next four points, getting kills from Kuba-McCoy and Izzy Lugar to take a 12-9 lead. JHU answered with a 3-0 run to tie it at 12, getting a pair of kills from Danielle Norman. With it now 13-13, the Bullets took five of the next six to jump ahead of the Jays by four.

• Kills from Portale and Williams made it 18-16, but a Karrer service error gave it back to the Bullets with a 19-16 lead. The Blue Jays took the next four, getting a kill from Williams, an ace from Evelyn Batista and a pair of kills from Anthony to put Hopkins on top by a point. 

• Horowitz tied it at 20 with a kill, but Norman took the next point for Hopkins. The teams continued to trade points, tying things at 23 before an attack error gave JHU set point again. Similarly to the last set, the Bullets took the next two points with a kill from Kuba-McCoy and an attack errror. Bliss responded with a kill and we were tied at 25 once more. 

• Horowitz gave the Bullets the lead with a kill and Ingrid Bayer ended the set with an ace on a defensive miscommunication from the Blue Jays. 

4th Set 
• Clearly not happy with dropping the middle sets, the Blue Jays came out guns blazing in set number four, trouncing the Bullets 25-9 to force a fifth set. 

• Hopkins got out quickly, jumping ahead 3-0 and 7-2 with two kills from Portale and a kill from Panagopoulos. Kills from Panagopoulos and Anthony made it 9-4, but Horowitz picked up a kill to cut it to 9-5. 

• A 9-1 run broke the set fully open for Hopkins, giving them an 18-6 lead. Norman picked up a pair of kills in a 5-0 run to make it 14-6. After a kill from Horowitz, it was another quick four-point spurt with kills from Bliss, Norman and Aston. 

• The 9-1 run turned into a 14-2 run after a kill from Panagopouls, an ace from Aston and a kill from Bliss, extending the lead to 23-7 JHU. The Bullets took the next two points, but Bliss and Norman ended the set with back-to-back kills to force a game-deciding fifth set. 

5th Set 
• The Blue Jays jumped out quickly in the winner-take-all fifth set, getting ahead 5-1 with kills from Karrer and Bliss mixed with a trio of attack errors from Gettysburg. 

• Horowitz made it 5-2 out of a timeout, but Hopkins took the next four and it was quickly 9-2, getting away from the Bullets. Four different Blue Jays had kills in the quick run: Bliss, Panagopoulos, Portale and Norman. 

• A kill from Norman made it 11-4 before Holtz cut the deficit to six with a kill, but a 3-0 run from the Jays essentially put it out of reach. The Bullets took four straight points, but Anthony finished it off for a 15-9 victory to keep the perfect season and the win streak alive for Hopkins.

Inside the Box Score
• The Blue Jay offense was superb in the final three sets, hitting at least .244 in each set en route to a .260 percentage for the match. The Jays hit .429 in the dominant fourth set.  

• In her return to action, Bliss wasted no time getting herself acclimated with 13 kills and three blocks. Norman picked up 13 kills to match her for the game-high despite not entering the contest until the third set. Panagopoulos and Williams each had 10 kills to give the Jays four players in double figures.  

• Panagopoulos hit .500 for the match to improve her season hitting percentage to an extremely impressive .368. 

• Aston had 50 assists and 13 digs in the match for JHU. 

• Zanze Kuba-McCoy led the Bullets with a double-double, registering 18 kills and 11 digs.

What It Means
 
• Johns Hopkins advances to the Centennial Conference final tomorrow vs. the winner of Haverford. The Jays are in pursuit of their fifth straight championship.
 
• The Bullets took Hopkins to five sets for just the third time this season. 

• Hopkins improved to 28-0 at home during its 63-match winning streak. 

 
What's Next
 
• Johns Hopkins will play for the Centennial Championship tomorrow at 1 pm inside Goldfarb.