Box Score The Basics 
• Score: #1 Johns Hopkins-3 • Susquehanna-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-21)
• Records: #1 Johns Hopkins (8-0) • Susquehanna (5-3)
• Location: Baltimore, MD • Goldfarb Gymnasium
• The Short Story: Top-ranked Johns Hopkins dropped the first set before rallying for a four-set win against Susquehanna on the first night of the JHU Invitational.

How it Happened

SET ONE
• Susquehanna quickly erased an early 2-0 deficit and forced a Blue Jay timeout as the River Hawks rolled off eight of the next 10 points to grab an 8-4 lead.  A pair of kills from senior Riley O'Dowd fueled the run, which SU extended after the break with three more points before a Sydney Portale kill halted the run for the Blue Jays. 
• The once seven-point lead (11-4) for the River Hawks was down to one at 15-14 as the Blue Jays used a 5-1 run spurt to get close.  With the Jays down 14-9, a Simone Bliss kill ignited the spree for Johns Hopkins, which also got kills from Portale, Eleni Panagopoulos and Danielle Norman and an ace from Natalie Aston during the run.
• Susquehanna answered the Blue Jays' 5-1 run with a 7-1 rally of its own. Kills from Amanda Gore, O'Dowd, and Brooke Lacesa capped the run, which gave the River Hawks a 22-16 lead.
• The Blue Jays twice got the deficit down to four at 22-18 and 24-20, but a Madison Rockey kill polished off the first-set win for Susquehanna.

SET TWO
• The Blue Jays jumped out to another early lead in set two on the hot hitting of Bliss, who put four kills down to stake Hopkins to a 4-1 lead.
• The River Hawks responded with 6-2 spurt of their own to grab a 7-6 lead with the Blue Jays committing three consecutive unforced errors to give SU the one-point lead.
• The teams battled evenly for the next several points before the Blue Jays went on a 6-1 run to turn a 10-9 lead into a 16-10 advantage.  A block from Aston and Lauren Anthony jump-started things for Hopkins, which also got three kills from Bliss to fuel the surge.
• The Blue Jays had the lead up to 18-11 after an ace from Aston, but Susquehanna had one more run in it and pulled with four at 20-16 after a point off a scramble at the net.
• The Blue Jays closed out the 25-17 set-two win by controlling the pace down the stretch and capped things with an ace from freshman Evelyn Batista.

SET THREE
• In a set that featured 11 ties and six lead changes, it was a late spurt for the Blue Jays off the serve of freshman Roxy Karrer that turned things in Hopkins' favor in what eventually became a 25-19 set victory for JHU.
• Down 19-16, the Blue Jays used a Norman kill to regain the serve and send Karrer to the line.
• Karrer served up an ace to make it 19-18 and a kill from Aston and two more from Anthony gave the Blue Jays a 21-19 lead.  Two late kills from Norman and an attack error by the River Hawks closed out a 25-19 set that was much closer than the final tally would indicate.

SET FOUR
• The Blue Jays grabbed an early 4-3 lead, but the River Hawks reeled off six of the next seven points to turn the one-point deficit into a 9-5 lead.  Back-to-back kills from Kody Dillon and another from Rosina Esposito accounted for the final three points in the spree.
• Susquehanna held at least a three-point lead into the middle of the set and forced the Blue Jays into a timeout after a Lacesa kill and an Esposito ace made it 14-9.
• The Blue Jays wrapped three-point runs around a two-point rally by the River Hawks to pull within one at 16-15.  That was the first of four times the Blue Jays would pull within one down the stretch before SU grabbed a 21-19 lead on a kill from Megan Nelson.
• The Blue Jays then scored off an attack error and got a kill from Bliss to even things up at 21 and took the lead on a block from Panagopoulos and Bliss.  Two more SU attack errors set the Blue Jays up at match point and Panagopoulos polished things off with a kill in the middle; it was an 8-1 Hopkins run to end the match.

What it Means
• The Blue Jays improved to 8-0 on the year and extended their overall winning streak to 43 dating back to the start of the 2019 season.
• The 43-match winning streak is tied for the fourth-longest winning streak in Division III history. Juniata won 43 straight in 1996.
• The win is the 250^th for Johns Hopkins head coach Matt Troy.  He improves to 117-21 at Johns Hopkins won 133 matches as the head coach at Mary Washington.

Inside the Box Score
• Bliss led the Blue Jays with 20 kills and added 11 digs.  Portale (9) and Norman (8) combined for 17 kills on the night.
• Aston tallied 39 assist and added 11 digs, while senior Sarah Khan had a team-high 25 digs.  In addition to her exploits at the service line at the end of set three, Karrer added 15 digs.
• O'Dowd nearly went kill-for-kill with Bliss as she had a team-high 19 on the night.  Esposito added 13 kills and 20 digs, while Rockey (37 assists) and Lizzie Herestofa (32 digs) also figured prominently on the final stat sheet.
 
Up Next
•  Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, September 18 as the Blue Jays will host day two of the JHU Invitational with matches against Colorado College (1 pm) and York College (3 pm).  The match against Colorado College will be a matchup of two teams ranked in the top five in the nation as the Blue Jays are currently ranked number one, while the Tigers are ranked fourth in this week's AVCA Poll.

Be sure to follow the Blue Jays all season long on Twitter (@JHUVB) and on Instagram (@johnshopkinsvolleyball).