ARLINGTON, VA – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team wrapped up its stretch of away games with a non-conference match against Marymount Wednesday night, holding the Saints to a sub-zero hitting percentage en route to the 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-20) win.
 
Simrin Carlsen eclipsed the 100-kill mark on the season in the victory, tallying a game-high 14 to pair with 12 digs for her fifth double-double in 2023. Defensively Grace Reininga registered a match-high 15 digs — her most since the Blue Jays' season-opener against top-ranked Juniata — while Alice Yu led the way with three blocks to bring her season total up to a team-best 26. In a match where kills were difficult to come by, Hopkins (8-2) held Marymount to a season-low hitting percentage of -.031, the lowest the Jays have allowed since November of 2022.
 
The start to Wednesday's match was a challenging one, as 11 of the match's first 12 points were the result of either of a service or attacking error. A kill by Yu gave Hopkins its first successful attack of the evening to take a 7-5 lead before a trio of Jays errors as well as a kill from the Saints' Kaitlyn Doyle put Marymount ahead 9-7.
 
Hopkins responded with a pair of 3-0 runs that featured kills by Adam and Pamela Chiakpo as well as a block by Chidinma Onukwugha to take back the lead at 13-12. Doyle tacked on another kill to level the score, but another 4-0 burst from the Blue Jays made it a 17-13 match. Marymount chipped away at the deficit, getting as close as 22-21 before a set-closing 3-0 run that included a Carlsen kill and Yu block gave Hopkins the 25-21 win.
 
Kills from Adam and Chiakpo helped the Jays go ahead 3-2 to start the second set before Hopkins quickly took control with a 7-0 outburst. Chiakpo, who finished the game with five kills on a team-best .308 hitting percentage, got things started once again, with an Evelyn Batista ace and Carlsen kill as well as four attacking errors by the Saints putting the Jays up 10-2.
 
Marymount once against cut into the lead, using a 4-0 spurt to close the gap to 17-13, but a 4-0 run that saw Yu deny another swing before earning herself a kill extended the lead back to 21-13. The Saints scored three unanswered to make it a five-point set before the sides traded blows the rest of the way resulting in the 25-19 Hopkins win.
 
Set 3 once again started in favor of the Jays, with kills from newly-entered Ivy Swafford and Danielle Norman as well as some excellent service game from Batista put Hopkins back up 10-2. The Jays stayed hot, ballooning their lead up to 16-5 before the Saint began the climb back. A series of 3-0 runs briefly broken up by Hopkins points quickly made the set interesting at 22-18, but another Marymount attack error followed by consecutive kills from Carlsen clinched the 25-20 set win and 3-0 victory.
 
Next up for the Jays is the Hopkins Invitational, where they will return to Goldfarb Gym to host Scranton, Mount Union and Salisbury in a two-day tournament starting Friday at 6:30 p.m.