BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team opened Centennial Conference play with a three-set sweep of visiting Swarthmore Saturday afternoon in Goldfarb Gym. In a match that featured just two lead changes and six ties, the Blue Jays cruised to the 25-19, 25-20, 25-15 victory on a strong hitting game that clicked above 32% in each set.
 
The Blue Jays were up just 16-14 late in set one before a Roxy Karrer kill ignited a 6-1 Blue Jay spurt that gave Hopkins a 22-15 lead.  Karrer and Alice Yu both had service aces during the spree and both each had a kill to fuel what proved to be a set-deciding run.  The Blue Jays clinched the set-one win on an attack error by the Garnet.
 
Johns Hopkins (5-5, 1-0 Centennial) sprinted out to a 10-3 lead in set two to take control early.  Karrer and Simone Adam both collected a pair of kills and Karrer added another ace to ignite the early surge.  The Blue Jays held the lead between four and seven points throughout the middle of the set, but Swarthmore made its push late to pull within three at 22-19.  Back-to-back Garnet kills and consecutive service aces from Dani Pena quickly turned a 22-15 Blue Jay lead into the 22-19 score and forced a Blue Jay timeout.  Johns Hopkins regrouped out of the timeout and closed out the set by scoring three of the final four points.
 
Set three saw the teams battle to an 8-7 Blue Jay lead through 15 points, only to have Hopkins gradually pull away.  Adam collected four kills during a 12-4 JHU run that gave JHU a 20-11 lead.  Swarthmore was never closer than seven down the stretch and an Adam kill polished off the victory for the Blue Jays.
 
Adam (18 kills / 7 digs) and Karrer (12 kills) combined for 30 kills against just four attack errors in the win.  The Blue Jays hit a season-best .432 in the victory with 46 kills against just five errors on 95 attacks.  The setting tandem of Helena Swaak (18 assists) and Lida King (16) combined for 34 of Hopkins' 45 assists on the day.
 
Swarthmore (8-3, 1-1) got a team-high nine kills from Trisha Razdan and seven from Kaylee Zhang, but the Blue Jay defense collected 44 digs, forced 14 Garnet attack errors and limited SC to a .157 attack percentage.
 
What's Next
Johns Hopkins will return to the court on Wednesday, September 28 when the Blue Jays head to Dickinson to take on the Red Devils in another Centennial Conference match (7 pm).