BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team closed the regular season with an impressive sweep in Goldfarb Gym Saturday afternoon.  The Blue Jays opened the day with a thrilling five-set win over sixth-ranked NYU and closed with a sweep against Virginia Wesleyan.  The two wins give the Blue Jays a 19-7 regular season record and a 10-match winning streak entering next week's Centennial Conference Tournament.
 
The NYU Match
The Blue Jays fell behind 2-1 before they rallied back and knocked off the sixth-ranked Violets.
 
After the first four sets solved nothing, the Blue Jays battled from a 10-7 deficit in the fifth set and took seven out of nine points to pull ahead 14-12. Six different Blue Jays had kills during this run including two from Simrin Carlsen. After a kill from Olivia Lewandowski for the Violets, Carlsen added another kill to grab the decisive set for Johns Hopkins 15-13.
 
The Blue Jays grabbed a hard-fought 29-27 win in set one as they racked up 16 kills, which was their highest total in a set for the match. Hopkins freshmen Simone Adam and Helena Swaak collected kills at the end of the set to help propel the Blue Jays to a 1-0 lead. Hopkins then dropped the next two sets by identical 26-24 scores to relinquish the lead in the match. Sophomore Roxy Karrer had five aces, including four in a row, in the second set that helped the Blue Jays stay close before losing that set. The Blue Jays had set points in both sets but could not close out the Violets
 
After falling behind 11-8 in set four, Hopkins only allowed five more points the rest of the set, while holding NYU to a -0.154 hitting percentage to win the set decisively, 25-16. Carlsen, Adam and Pamela Chiakpo all added kills for the Blue Jays down the stretch to help propel them to the victory.
 
The Blue Jays got 14 kills and 13 digs from Carlsen, 11 kills and 10 blocks from Chiakpo and 11 kills from Alice Yu.  Helena Swaak handled most of the setting chores for the Blue Jays and dished out a career-high 48 assists, while Evelyn Batista led the defensive effort with 20 digs.
 
Gabriella Spaething and Olivia Lewandowski led in kills for NYU both with 15 and Lindsey Hirano led in defense with 33 kills.  This was the Violets first loss to an unranked opponent all season.
 
The Virginia Wesleyan Match
The Blue Jays earned a hard-fought sweep against the Marlins (20-7) as they claimed the 3-0 victory with set scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 26-24.
 
Hopkins had a 15-8 lead in set one after a kill from Adam, but the Marlins rallied and grabbed a 20-18 lead with a 12-3 run.  After pulling within four at 18-14, Virginia Wesleyan scored six straight to take the two-point lead.  From there, the Blue Jays used a set-ending 7-2 spurt to win the first set.  A pair of Batista service aces and a Chiakpo kill broke a 22-all tie and finished off the set.
 
A back-and-forth second set saw 15 ties and six lead changes, the last of which came at 23-23 after a Karrer kill.  From there, a bad set for the Marlins and an Alice Yu kill gave the Blue Jays the 25-23 victory.
 
By comparison, the third set saw just seven ties and one lead change, but the Blue Jays were still forced to go to extra points before winning 26-24.  The Blue Jays appeared to be in control after back-to-back kills from Karrer and Adam gave JHU a 22-19 lead, but the Marlins reeled off three straight to pull even at 22-.  Kills from Morgan Ludovici and Abigail Mahoney forced the final tie at 24 before a Virginia Wesleyan service error and another Adam kill closed things out for the Blue Jays.
 
Adam and Karrer tied for the team-lead with 12 kills apiece, while Chiakpo and Yu chipped in with seven.  Swaak's 39 assists were her most in a three-set match.
 
Taylor Paquette had a match-high 14 kills to lead the way for the Marlins, who also got 12 from Mahoney and a match-high 12 digs from Ludovici.