BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team topped Swarthmore in straight sets to win the program's eighth consecutive and 11^th overall Centennial Conference Championship Sunday afternoon. In a match that was never in doubt, the Blue Jays bested the Garnet, 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-16) to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight season.
 
As has been the case all season, Hopkins (29-2, 10-0 Centennial) used a balanced attack — paced by a match-high 13 kills from Simrin Carlsen — en route to finishing the match with a team hitting percentage of .365. The senior was joined in double figures by Jilienne Widener (10) and Simone Adam (10) with Ivy Swafford (8) trailing just behind while Helena Swaak and Kate Danaher piled on 20 and 15 assists respectively.
 
While the attack was impressive, the difference in Sunday's Championship came at the net, where Hopkins racked up 12 blocks led by a career-best eight from Swafford. Coming in just behind the sophomore in one of the more impressive defensive displays of the year were Alice Yu (5) and Brooklyn Pater (4) with Widener and Chidinma Onukwugha tacking on two apiece to help hold Swarthmore to just a .103 hitting percentage.
 
Despite what the final score might suggest, it was Swarthmore (17-10, 9-1 Centennial) jumping out to a 6-3 lead in Set 1 following a block and pair of service aces. From there, however, Swafford's first kill of the night kickstarted a 6-0 run that would give Hopkins a lead it would never lose. Back-to-back blocks from Carlsen and Pater and Swafford and Yu built the lead to four at 11-7 before a 6-2 run capped off by a Yu ace made it an 18-11 set. Swarthmore stayed within striking distance, cutting the lead back down to six at 24-18 following a kill from Isabel Adam, but Carlsen was there for her fourth kill of the set to end things 25-18.
 
Sunday's second set was close at the start, with Hopkins holding a narrow 8-7 advantage following a 3-0 burst by the Garnet before a service error began a 10-0 Blue Jays run that featured a trio of Adam finishers as well as a pair of Carlsen aces and Onukwugha rejections to balloon the lead to 11 at 18-7. Swarthmore cut into the deficit once again, using a 5-1 run to make it a 21-14 set, but Hopkins turned to Swafford, who registered three of the Blue Jays' final four kills to clinch the 25-16 victory.
 
Set 3 belonged to Hopkins' hitters, with the Blue Jays converting on a blistering 50% of their attacks while the Garnet were held to just .154 — a match-high hitting percentage for the Garnet in a match driven by Hopkins' block.
 
As was the case in the second set, Sunday's finale was tightly contested at its start, with the lead growing no larger than three before a 4-1 Garnet run leveled things at 10. The Blue Jays responded well, however, using a Widener kill to spark a 6-2 run to jump out to their largest lead of the set at 16-12. A 3-0 run that featured kills from Onukwugha and Carlsen as well as a solo stuff from Swafford built the lead to five before a quick 2-0 run cut the lead back to three at 19-16. That is as close as the visitors would get, however, with Carlsen and Swafford combining for the final six points — the sophomore ended the match with her career-best eighth rejection — to close out the set, 25-16 and match, 3-0.
 
For her efforts on both ends of the court, Swafford was named to Centennial Conference Tournament MVP. Across both matches the sophomore averaged 3.17 kills and 1.33 blocks per set on a .406 hitting percentage, continuing one of the most dominant stretches in the country heading into the NCAA Tournament.
 
The NCAA Selection Show will take place Monday, Nov. 18 at 1 p.m. where the Blue Jays will await their next opponent.