SWARTHMORE, PA – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team hit the road for the final time this regular season to take on Swarthmore and Virginia Wesleyan Saturday afternoon, dropping Game 1 to the hosts 3-1 (19-25, 13-25, 25-21, 21-25) before earning the split with a 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 25-17) win over Virginia Wesleyan.
 
Match 1: Johns Hopkins 1, Swarthmore 3
 
Offensive struggles plagued the Blue Jays (20-4, 7-1 Centennial) in their first-match loss, as Hopkins had its second-worst marks of the season in both errors (28) and hitting percentage (.118). Simrin Carlsen (15) and Simone Adam (14) paced the team in kills while Helena Swaak finished with a game-high 33 assists. Defensively, Grace Reininga tallied 15 digs and Alice Yu and Chidinma Onukwugha shared the team lead in blocks with four apiece.
 
Swarthmore (13-7, 6-2 Centennial) took an early 3-1 lead in Set 1, using a pair of 4-0 runs to build the advantage to 14-6. A kill by Carlsen started Hopkins' comeback attempt, with a trio of kills from Simone, Chiakpo and Carlsen making it an 18-13 score, but the Jays never got closer than four in a 25-19 first set.
 
Saturday's second set began more evenly with the Garnet holding a slight 5-4 advantage, but another early 13-2 run that saw Hopkins commit six errors put the Jays down 18-6. The Jays got the lead down to nine at 22-13 after a kill from Alice Yu, but a 3-0 burst ended the set 25-13 and put the hosts up 2-0 — just the second time all season Hopkins dropped the first two sets.
 
After a back-and-forth start to Set 3, the Jays began to take control, using a 5-1 run that featured kills from Carlsen, Swaak and Adam to go ahead 10-7. The Garnet would tie the score at 10 and again at 11 before an attacking error sparked a 5-0 run that put Hopkins up 16-11. The sides traded 3-0 runs until the score read 22-17, with another attacking error securing the 25-21 win for the Jays.
 
The final set of Match 1 started with an Onukwugha-Swaak block, but it was Swarthmore once again taking an early lead at 8-4. Hopkins got the score within two three times before a 4-0 spurt put the hosts up 18-12. From there the Jays cut the lead to two one final time at 20-18, but the deficit was too much to overcome with the Garnet taking the set 25-21 and the 3-1 win.
 
Match 2: Johns Hopkins 3, Virginia Wesleyan 1
 
The Blue Jays flipped the script in Saturday's second match, hitting .271 compared to Virginia Wesleyan's .127 in a 3-1 win over the Marlins (23-5, 11-0 ODAC). Carlsen once again paced the team in kills at 17, with Chiakpo (14 kills on .500 hitting percentage) and Adam (10) also reaching double figures. Lida King tallied a season-high 26 assists while on the defensive end it was Evelyn Batista leading the team with 15 digs and Onukwugha adding six blocks to her impressive weekend tally.
 
Hopkins got things started with a block by Yu and Chiakpo, but it was Virginia Wesleyan going on a 7-1 run in response to take a 7-2 lead. The Jays slowly began to chip away at the lead before finally tying things up at 19 as part of a 4-0 run that shot Hopkins ahead 21-19. The Marlins quickly retook the lead with a 3-0 run to go up 22-21, but it was the Jays scoring four of the next five points to take Set 1 25-23.
 
The second set of Match 2 saw Hopkins once again fall behind early 6-4 before a 3-0 run gave them the 7-6 lead. A 5-0 response from Virginia Wesleyan put the Marlins up 11-7, and despite cutting the lead to one at 11-12, 20-21 and 23-24, a final kill from Kate Ayre evened the sets at one apiece.
 
Despite the final score of the stanza, Set 3 was Saturday's most tightly contested, as it featured nine ties before the Jays eventually pulled away. With the score at 11-11, a kill by Carlsen sparked a 4-0 run to put Hopkins up 15-11. Another 4-0 run after Virginia Wesleyan had cut into the lead made it a 21-15 set before a Yu kill started a set closing 3-0 run to give the Jays the set 25-19 and put them up 2-1.
 
Saturday's final set continued the theme of back-and-forth volleyball, with no side holding more than a three-point advantage until Hopkins began to pull away at 14-14. With the score once again level, a kill from Danielle Norman kickstarted a 9-2 to run that all but put the match out of reach. A kill from Ayre momentarily stopped the bleeding before a bad set by the Marlins and kill from Onukwugha closed the set and match 3-1 in favor of the Jays.
 
Hopkins returns to action Wednesday, Nov. 1 to take on Dickinson in Centennial Conference action. First serve from Goldfarb Gym is set for 7 p.m.