ALLENTOWN, PA – The third-ranked Johns Hopkins volleyball team pushed its record to 18-2 and ran its winning streak to eight as the Blue Jays topped host Muhlenberg (3-0) and Stockton (3-1) at Muhlenberg's Memorial Hall Saturday afternoon.  The win against the Mules also bumped the Blue Jays' Centennial Conference record to 3-0.
 
Match 1:  Johns Hopkins-3, Muhlenberg-0
The Blue Jays eased past the Mules by scores of 25-20, 25-19 and 25-15.
 
Johns Hopkins found itself down 6-5 in the first set, but used a seven-point run to grab a lead it would never relinquish.  A pair of Alice Yu kills and a Roxy Karrer service ace fueled the run for the Blue Jays, who capped the spurt with a Simrin Carlsen kill.
 
The Mules responded with a 9-4 run of their own to close within 16-15 after back-to-back kills from Rachel Jacobs and Esmae Oehler and a setting error for the Blue Jays, but Ivy Swafford and Simone Adam kills ignited a 9-4 set-ending run for the Blue Jays.
 
A back-and-forth second set saw five early ties, including the last one at 9-9, and the Blue Jays were up just 18-16 after Jacobs and Olivia Bruno combined on a block, but a Muhlenberg attack error and another Karrer ace sparked a run that saw the Blue Jays score seven of the final 10 points to grab the set; a Carlsen kill finished things off for Johns Hopkins.
 
Unlike the first two sets, which were close early and well into the middle of the set, the Blue Jays sprinted out to a 9-1 lead in the decisive third set.  Johns Hopkins collected five early kills, including two more by Yu, to fuel the early spurt.
 
The Mules fought back to within three at 14-11 with a 10-5 run that saw Jacobs collect a pair of the six Muhlenberg kills in the surge.  A Natalie Agnolet kill made it 14-11, but a Muhlenberg attacking error was followed by a Yu kill and a service ace from Evelyn Batista and the Jays outscored the Mules 11-4 down the stretch to seal the victory.
 
The Blue Jays got seven or more kills from four different players, including a match-high nine from Yu and Swafford and eight from Adam, to lead the way offensively.  Yu hit .750 in the victory with her nine kills coming on 12 attacks.  Kate Danaher (16) and Helena Swaak (13) combined for 29 of the Blue Jays' 34 assists and Carlsen and Swaak collected eight digs apiece.
 
Jacobs and Christina Marcin each had eight kills, but the Mules hit just .093 (38-22-97) and the Blue Jays found the floor on eight serves for aces.
 
Game 2:  Johns Hopkins-3, Stockton-1
Johns Hopkins grabbed the first set, 25-19, only to find themselves even after Stockton won the second 26-24.  The Blue Jays responded with a convincing 25-13 win in set three and sealed the victory by taking the fourth set 25-23.
 
Up just 7-6 early, the Blue Jays pushed out to a 12-7 lead with a 5-1 spurt that Carlsen started with a kill and Yu polished off with a block.  Back-to-back kills and an Ashley Carkhuff ace would get the Ospreys within 12-10.  Consecutive blocks from Carlsen and Brooklyn Pater sparked a 4-0 run for the Blue Jays that gave Hopkins some breathing room, but Stockton stayed within striking distance before a pair of late Pam Chiakpo kills helped put the set away for the Blue Jays.
 
An intense second set saw 18 ties, including 11 straight to open things up.  The Blue Jays grabbed a set-high three-point lead at 15-12 on Chidinma Onukwugha kill, but the Ospreys had it even at 15 on a block from Jaylah Rolle and Rileigh Wilson.  Hopkins didn't surrender the lead until late as a 23-22 lead turned into a 24-23 deficit after back-to-back attacking errors.  The Blue Jays pulled even at 24 on a Pater kill, but a Teleyah Witherspoon kill and another Blue Jay attacking error gave the set to Stockton.
 
The Blue Jays eased to the 25-13 set-three win as they broke a 4-4 tie on a Swafford kill that started a five-point run that gave Hopkins a 9-4 lead.  The Ospreys were within four just twice more and the Blue Jays hit .429 (13-1-28) in the set to grab the 2-1 lead.
 
An evenly-played fourth set saw 10 ties with the last coming at 14-14 after a Blue Jay service error.  But Hopkins scored four of the next five points, with back-to-back kills from Carlsen and Adam, to push out to an 18-15 lead.  The Jays would lead 24-20 after a Chiakpo kill, but a Kate Louer kill and consecutive Blue Jay attack errors made it 24-23 before Carlsen finished things off with her ninth kill of the match.
 
Adam was spectacular with a season-high 17 kills and she hit .448 to fuel the victory.  Chiakpo added a season-high 12 kills of her own and Swafford added 11.  The Blue Jays hit .344 with a season-high 62 kills in the victory.  Danaher (26) and Swaak (24) combined for 50 of JHU's 58 aces and the Blue Jay defense, led by Danaher (12), Carlsen (12) and Batista (11), collected 67 digs, the team's second-highest total of the season.
 
Wilson (11) and Louer (10) combined for 21 of Stockton's 45 kills in the match, but the Ospreys couldn't overcome a decided Blue Jay hitting advantage (.344 to .155) and slipped to 12-4 on the year with the loss.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, October 19 when the Blue Jays welcome Haverford (1 pm) and Carnegie Mellon (3:30 pm) to Goldfarb Gym.
 
Notes:  With her 25 kills today, Adam eclipsed the 900-kill mark for her career.  She now has 924 and is the 12^th player in program history to surpass 900 career kills.