BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team notched its eighth straight victory by sweep and polished off a perfect Centennial Conference regular season with a 3-0 victory over visiting Washington College Wednesday night in Goldfarb Gym.  The Blue Jays, who won by scores of 25-15, 25-15 and 31-29, improve to 17-7 overall and 10-0 in the Centennial Conference, while the Shorewomen slip to 10-13 overall and 2-7 in the Centennial
 
The Blue Jays dug out of an early 7-3 hole to win the opening set 25-15.  A 12-2 spurt quickly turned the two-point deficit into a 15-9 lead that was never seriously threatened.  Freshman Alice Yu sparked the run with all three of her first-set kills during the spree, while sophomore Roxy Karrer added a pair during the set-turning spurt.  The Shorewomen were never closer than five after the Blue Jays took the 15-9 lead in set one.
 
The second set was tight through the first 22 points as the Blue Jays led just 12-10 after an Angelina Schaber kill for the Shorewomen.  Johns Hopkins answered the Schaber kill with a 7-0 run to turn the 12-10 lead into a 19-10 advantage.  Junior Pamela Chiakpo was the igniter during the run for the Blue Jays as she had three kills from the middle to highlight the spree while a Helena Swaak kill ended the set at 25-15.
 
Set three proved to be the best as it featured 15 ties and seven lead changes before the Blue Jays prevailed 31-29.  Several early three-point leads for the Blue Jays dissolved as Washington College made a mid-set run to grab a three-point lead of its own at 20-17.  Johns Hopkins answered with a 5-1 run that included a pair of Simone Adam kills and an Elizabeth Hsieh service ace that made it 23-21.
 
The Shorewomen forced ties at 23, 24, 25 and held serve at set point three times before the Blue Jays broke a 29-all tie with back-to-back kills from Adam and Lida King to seal the victory.
 
Karrer and Adam both had 11 kills and Chiakpo added six to lead a Blue Jay offense that hit .424 on the night, the third-best hitting percentage of the season for the Blue Jays.  Karrer (13 digs) and Evelyn Batista (12) led the way defensively while Swaak dished out a match-high 22 assists for the Blue Jays.
 
Washington College got eight kills from Schaber and seven from Chelsea Elliott, but the Shorewomen collected just 26 total kills in the three sets and hit just .125 in suffering their 31^st consecutive loss to the Blue Jays.
 
What's Next
Johns Hopkins return to action on Saturday, October 29 when the Blue Jays close the regular season at home against NYU and Virginia Wesleyan in Goldfarb Gym.  The Blue Jays will take on NYU in the first match of the day at 12 pm.