BALTIMORE, MD – The third-ranked and top-seeded Johns Hopkins volleyball team hosted Bridgewater State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday afternoon, sweeping the Bears, 3-0 (25-9, 25-9, 25-12) to secure their spot in the Round of 32. The win pushes the Blue Jays' win total to 30 — the third time in program history Hopkins has hit the milestone — with the loss concluding Bridgewater State's season with a record of 13-10.
Thursday's opening frame set the tone for the entire match, with the Blue Jays hitting .500 compared to -.032 for the Bears en route to the 25-9 win. Kills from
Simone Adam and
Alice Yu followed by a
Roxy Karrer ace catapulted Hopkins to a 6-1 lead early. The advantage ballooned to 12 when an 8-0 run capped off by
Brooklyn Pater's first of two kills in the set made it 14-2. Bridgewater State trimmed the deficit to nine at 18-9 following a kill by Charlotte Sullivan, but that would be as close as the visitors would get, with a block from Yu and
Ivy Swafford igniting a set-closing 7-0 run.
Set 2 told more of the same story, as Hopkins hit .379 compared to a match-low -.133 for the Bears. Adam and
Simrin Carlsen got things started with back-to-back kills before Bridgewater State responded with a 3-2 run to cut the lead to 5-2. From there, however,
Chidinma Onukwugha struck for her first kill of the night to spark a 11-1 run that featured a pair of
Helena Swaak aces and a trio of blocks to go in front 13-3.
The lead stayed at 10 with the score reading 18-8 before another Onukwugha kill started a set-closing 7-1 run, with
Brooklyn Pater and
Jilienne Widener combining for a block to make it 23-9 before the pair registered the final two kills of the set to put the Blue Jays up 2-0.
Thursday's final set saw the Bears take their first lead of the night after a service ace made it 2-1, but a 4-0 response that was capped off by consecutive Yu kills gave Hopkins a 5-2 lead it would never lose en route to the 25-12 win. Bridgewater State remained close after a trio of service errors closed the gap to two at 8-6 before the Bears returned the favor with an error of their own that kickstarted a 7-0 burst that included three Onukwugha kills — the senior tallied four in the frame — to balloon the lead to 15-6.
Hopkins rode Yu and Adam to win the race to 20, with a kill from Bridgewater State's Lily Welch momentarily stopping the bleeding at 23-12 before consecutive blocks from Carlsen and Yu and Onukwugha and
Pamela Chiakpo closed out the set, 25-12 and match, 3-0.
BALTIMORE, MD – The third-ranked and top-seeded Johns Hopkins volleyball team hosted Bridgewater State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday afternoon, sweeping the Bears, 3-0 (25-9, 25-x, 25-x) to secure their spot in the Round of 32. The win pushes the Blue Jays' win total to 30 — the third time in program history Hopkins has hit the milestone — with the loss concluding Bridgewater State's season with a record of 13-10.
Thursday's opening frame set the tone for the entire match, with the Blue Jays hitting .500 compared to -.032 for the Bears en route to the 25-8 win. Kills from
Simone Adam and
Alice Yu followed by a
Roxy Karrer ace catapulted Hopkins to a 6-1 lead early. The advantage ballooned to 12 when an 8-0 run capped off by
Brooklyn Pater's first of two kills in the set made it 14-2. Bridgewater State trimmed the deficit to nine at 18-9 following a kill by Charlotte Sullivan, but that would be as close as the visitors would get, with a block from Yu and
Ivy Swafford igniting a set-closing 7-0 run.
Set 2 told more of the same story, as Hopkins hit .379 compared to a match-low -.133 for the Bears. Adam and
Simrin Carlsen got things started with back-to-back kills before Bridgewater State responded with a 3-2 run to cut the lead to 5-2. From there, however,
Chidinma Onukwugha struck for her first kill of the night to spark a 11-1 run that featured a pair of
Helena Swaak aces and a trio of blocks to go in front 13-3.
The lead stayed at 10 with the score reading 18-8 before another Onukwugha kill started a set-closing 7-1 run, with
Brooklyn Pater and
Jilienne Widener combining for a block to make it 23-9 before the pair registered the final two kills of the set to put the Blue Jays up 2-0.
Thursday's final set saw the Bears take their first lead of the night after a service ace made it 2-1, but a 4-0 response that was capped off by consecutive Yu kills gave Hopkins a 5-2 lead it would never lose en route to the 25-12 win. Bridgewater State remained close after a trio of service errors closed the gap to two at 8-6 before the Bears returned the favor with an error of their own that kickstarted a 7-0 burst that included three Onukwugha kills — the senior tallied four in the frame — to balloon the lead to 15-6.
Hopkins rode Yu and Adam to win the race to 20, with a kill from Bridgewater State's Lily Welch momentarily stopping the bleeding at 23-12 before consecutive blocks from Carlsen and Yu and Onukwugha and
Pamela Chiakpo closed out the set, 25-12 and match, 3-0.
As a team the Blue Jays hit .480 while holding the Bears to -.071 — the first time Bridgewater State had finished a match with a sub-zero hitting percentage on the year. Adam and Yu shared the team lead in kills at seven apiece, followed closely by Pater and Onukwugha while
Kate Danaher dished out 24 assists. Defensively it was Pater and Yu finishing with four blocks each, helping Hopkins finish with 10 — the third most in an NCAA Tournament match in program history.
Next up for the Blue Jays is a rematch against Carnegie Mellon Friday, Nov. 22, with first serve set for 7 p.m.
