NEWPORT NEWS, VA – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team kicked off its 2024 campaign in dominant fashion Friday afternoon, sweeping William Paterson on Day 1 of the Captains Classic. The Blue Jays trailed just once on the day, cruising past the Pioneers 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-13) to secure Hopkins' first win of the season.
Simone Adam led the way for Hopkins' attack finishing with a team-high 12 kills on an even .600 hitting percentage while
Helena Swaak (13) and
Kate Danaher (10) both eclipsed double figures in assists. Defensively it was newcomer
Jilienne Widener racking up a match-high five blocks (3 solo, 2 assists) while
Evelyn Batista and Swaak finished with nine digs apiece.
Widener got things going for Hopkins in her first match as a Blue Jay, tallying the first two kills of the afternoon before a
Simrin Carlsen ace put Hopkins up 3-0. After William Paterson scored three of the next four points, a Widener block ignited a 7-1 run to catapult the Blue Jays to an 11-4 lead.
A burst from Carlsen in which the senior rattled off three of Hopkins' next four points ballooned the lead to 17-8 before
Alice Yu's third kill of the set matched the Blue Jays' largest lead of 11 at 23-12. A trio of Hopkins attack errors cut into the deficit, but a pair of Pioneer service errors ended the set 25-15.
The start of the second set told much of the same story, with the Blue Jays jumping out to a 6-1 lead on kills from
Brooklyn Pater and Adam as well as a Batista ace before William Paterson began the climb back. After getting as close as 9-7, Pater — the senior racked up three of her seven kills in the set — and Adam struck again to build the lead back to six at 14-8. Hopkins' advantage stayed at six with the score 17-11 before back-to-back
Alice Yu denials sparked a 5-1 run that made it 22-13. The Pioneers stopped the bleeding with a kill from Hope Arce-Reed, but a 3-0 response including a pair of kills from Widener ended the set 25-13 and gave the Blue Jays the 2-0 lead.
Friday's third set was the most lopsided of the afternoon with Hopkins hitting .385 compared to -.148 for William Paterson en route to another 25-13 victory. The Pioneers scored the set's opening point to give themselves their first lead of the afternoon, but immediately pulling away were the Blue Jays, who used Adam's first of six kills in the set to ignite an extended 13-3 run to go in front 13-4. The Pioneers stayed within single digits until the score read 20-13 where Widener's seventh kill of the day started a set-ending 5-0 run to give Hopkins the 25-13 set win and sweep.
The Blue Jays are back for Day 2 of the Captains Classic Saturday, August 31 to take on Christopher Newport and top-ranked Juniata. First serve of Hopkins' opening match is set for 1 pm.
