BALTIMORE, MD – The ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins volleyball team moved to 3-0 on the young season with wins over St. John Fisher (3-0) and Marymount (3-1) on Saturday at the Greg "Gio" Giovanazzi Memorial Tournament.
 
Hopkins jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the first set, on the strength of a combined five kills from freshman Simone Adam and sophomore Simrin Carlsen. St. John Fisher battled back to within one at 9-8, but a pair of Evelyn Batista aces and a Pamela Chiakpo kill pushed the lead right back to four (12-8).
 
Leading 17-14, back-to-back Adam kills sparked a 6-1 run as the Blue Jays pushed out to a 23-15 lead. The Cardinals answered with back-to-back points to pull within six. But an Adam kill pushed the Blue Jays to set point. Kristen McIntosh kept St. John Fisher in the match with a kill, but Carlsen answered on the next point with a kill of her own to give Hopkins a 25-18 win.
 
The Blue Jays grabbed an early 4-1 lead in the second set. The teams would then trade points as JHU took an 8-5 lead. Hopkins capitalized on some St. John Fisher errors and some timely kills as the Jays methodically pushed out to a 21-9 lead. The Cardinals came back with a run of their own, outscoring the Jays 10-1 to make it 22-19. Brooke Segars and Kiera Hartpence fueled the run with a combined five aces. Hopkins settled in and rode a pair of Adam kills and a Helena Swaak ace to a 25-19 win in the second.   
 
This time it was St. John Fisher that took an early lead (4-1) and Hopkins that had to answer. The Blue Jays did so, to the tune of a 5-1 rally that the saw home team take a 6-5 lead. The Cardinals answered with four straight points to retake the lead and go up 9-6. Carlsen buried a set by Annelisa O'Neal to ignite a 9-2 run that gave Hopkins a 15-11 lead.
 
Once again, St. John Fisher answered and would take an 18-17 lead on a block by Delayne Young and Brandy Morrison. The teams traded points, and the lead, and just like that it was 22-22. After a pair of Cardinal errors, the Blue Jays closed out the set (25-22) and the match with a Swaak ace.
 
In the final match of the tournament, Hopkins took a two-set lead before Marymount forced a fourth set with a win in third. The Blue Jays would take the fourth, 25-17, to close out the match and the weekend.
 
JHU raced out to a 12-2 lead but Marymount would respond with a 9-4 spurt to slice the lead to five at 16-11. The Blue Jays rallied and pushed their lead back to seven (21-14), capped by back-to-back kills by Carlsen. The Saints got three straight points to pull back within four, but the Jays closed strong to take the set 25-19.
 
The second set was a different story with Marymount taking an early 7-3 lead. Hopkins rallied and grabbed a 9-8 lead on a Saints error. But it was short-lived as the Saints quickly retook the lead and went up 10-9. Back-to-back Adam kills swung the lead back in the Blue Jays' favor. Marymount responded with five unanswered points to go up 15-11 and then pushed its lead to 18-13.
 
A Marymount service error ignited a 6-1 Hopkins' run that saw the teams tied at 19. Katee Stromberg put the Saints on top 20-19, but the Blue Jays would earn three of the next four points to go up 22-21. The Saints retook the lead with two straight points, to go up 23-22. Hopkins would win three of the final four, capped by an Adam kill to win the second (25-23) and go up 2-0.
 
The Saints again took the early lead in the third, pushing out to a 13-7 advantage. The Jays rallied to win 10 of the next 15 points to slice the deficit to one at 18-17. Marymount would take control and won seven of the final eight points, including five straight, to win the third 25-18.
 
Hopkins raced out to a 6-2 lead in the fourth before Marymount answered to tie the set at eight-all. The Blue Jays grabbed control of the set with seven straight points, and nine of the next 10, to take a 17-9 lead. Alice Yu fueled the run with five kills and an ace. Marymount wasn't going away and the Saints cut the lead to three (19-16). The Blue Jays weren't letting this one slip away however, as they won six of the final seven points to take the set (25-17) and the match.
 
Hopkins travels to Atlanta next weekend for the East West Challenge. Hopkins will take on fifth-ranked Trinity (TX) and second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday, September 9 at Emory.
 
Inside the Box (St. John Fisher): Adam had a match-high 21 kills – two shy of the school record (three-set match) • Carlsen added 11 kills and eight digs • Batista finished with a match-high 15 digs, to go with four assists and three aces • Swaak tallied 18 assists and Lida King added 14.
 
Inside the Box (Marymount): Carlsen led with a match-high 15 kills and added 12 digs for her first career double-double • Adam tallied 13 kills and eight digs • Yu finished with 12 kills • King had a match-high 24 assists, while Swaak handed out 17 • Batista notched a match-high 17 digs.
 
Notes: Hopkins has now won 57 straight regular season matches