CLAREMONT, CA – The No. 7 Johns Hopkins volleyball team took on Washington University in Day 1 of the East West Classic Friday afternoon, falling 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 16-25, 20-25) to the fourteenth-ranked Bears in their first of three games this weekend.
Simone Adam and
Simrin Carlsen led the Blue Jays' attack, finishing with 19 and 15 kills respectively while
Helena Swaak racked up a season-best 46 assists, the third-highest mark of her career and her most in a four-set match. Carlsen also made her presence felt on the defensive end, tallying a team-best 10 digs and three blocks in her first action of 2023. Washington was paced by Jasmine Sells in both kills (16) and digs (10).
Friday's first set belonged to Hopkins (2-2), who jumped out to an early 4-3 lead on a kill from
Chidinma Onukwugha — one of her team-high six in the set — that they would never relinquish. A 7-2 burst from that point that included kills from Carlsen, Onukwugha,
Alice Yu and Adam put the Jays ahead 11-6 and forced a Bears timeout. Following the break Washington went on a 5-2 run of their own leading head coach
Matt Troy to take a timeout of his own with the score now 13-11.
The sides traded blows out of the second timeout before
Evelyn Batista rattled off five straight serves that ended with Hopkins points, including two aces of her own to bring her season tally to four and put the Jays back up 18-12. The Bears used their final timeout to stop the bleeding, but trading points was not enough as a Washington service error handed Hopkins the first set 25-17.
The second set started evenly, with a Batista-ace knotting the game at four before the Bears began to pull away. With Washington up 9-8 after a kill from Yu cut the deficit to one, the Bears went on a 5-0 burst to go ahead 14-8. A 3-0 response from the Jays cut the lead in half before an extended 5-2 run put Washington back up 19-14. Troy took a timeout out of which Hopkins got kills from Swaak, Yu and Adam to make it 20-18, but with Hopkins down just 21-20 after an Onukwugha-kill, the Bears went on a 4-1 run to close the set.
Friday's third set was one to forget for Hopkins, who fell behind 10-2 early and — despite cutting the deficit to four at one point — were never able to recover. The Jays committed 10 of their season-high 26 attacking errors en route to a .056 hitting percentage, dropping the set 16-25.
The final set of Friday's tournament opener was more tightly contested, with Hopkins jumping out to a 4-2 lead after consecutive kills from Adam. From there the sides alternated points until the game was tied at eight and again at 10. Another kill from Adam gave the Jays a one-point lead before a trio of 3-1 runs from the Bears put Hopkins behind 19-14. A timeout from Troy with the game at 17-22 sparked their own 3-1 run to make it 20-23 before a Washington kill and ace ended the set and handed Hopkins their second loss of the season.
The Jays will look to get back on track Saturday, Sept. 9 when they take on Colorado College and second-ranked and host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Day 2 of the East West Classic. First serve is set for 3 p.m. PDT.
