BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team jumped out to a two-set lead before fighting off a valiant comeback by visiting Gettysburg as the Blue Jays grabbed a 3-2 victory in Goldfarb Gym Wednesday evening.  The Blue Jays improve to 9-6 overall and 4-0 in the Centennial Conference with the win, while the Bullets slip to 14-4 overall and 1-3 in the Centennial.
 
After the first four sets solved nothing, the Blue Jays grabbed control of the fifth set with a six-point run that turned a 3-1 deficit into a 7-3 lead that they would never relinquish. Kills from Simone Adam, Alice Yu and Brooklyn Pater fueled the spree for the Blue Jays.  Gettysburg trimmed the deficit to one at 7-6 before Hopkins extended the lead to 12-6 as the Bullets committed four attacking errors.  The Blue Jays still had a 14-9 lead before the Bullets reeled off three straight only to have Brooklyn Pater end with it with her fifth kill of the night.
 
The Blue Jays grabbed a hard-fought 26-24 win in set one as they held the Bullets to a -.054 hitting percentage and collected 14 kills, including back-to-back Yu and Roxy Karrer kills to end the set.  Hopkins then led by as many as eight in what became a 25-20 set-two victory as Chidinma Onukwugha (4 kills), Adam (3) and Yu (3) led the way offensively in the set while Danielle Norman served up three service aces.
 
Gettysburg jumped out to an 8-3 lead in set three, led throughout and held off a late Blue Jay rally that sliced the deficit to one (22-21) to grab a 25-22 victory and forced the fifth set with a thrilling 25-23 win in set four.  The fourth set featured 12 ties and seven lead changes and Hopkins appeared to be in control after a Norman kill gave the Blue Jays a 19-14 lead, but the Bullets scored five straight to even things at 19 and scored the final three points of the set after the Blue Jays took a 23-22 lead.
 
The Blue Jays got 17 kills from Adam, 12 kills and 12 digs from Karrer and 10 kills and six blocks from Onukwugha.  Helena Swaak handled most of the setting chores for the Blue Jays and dished out a career-high 35 assists, while Evelyn Batista (career-high 23 digs) and Norman (career-high six service aces) also played key roles in the victory.
 
Alycen Rodolovic led three Bullets in double-figures in kills as she collected a team-high 12, while Zanze Kuba-McCoy (11) and Kylie Ulrich (10) also hit for 10 or more.  The Bullets collected 77 digs, but were limited at the net as they hit just .075 on the night.
 
What's Next
Johns Hopkins will return to the court on Friday, October 7 when the Blue Jays make the short trip to Stevenson to take on the Mustangs (6 pm).