NEWPORT NEWS, VA – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team split its matches on Day 2 of the Captains Classic Saturday afternoon, sweeping host CNU, 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-22) before falling to top-ranked Juniata, 3-1 (16-25, 25-21, 15-25, 12-25) to conclude the Blue Jays' opening weekend.
Game 1: Johns Hopkins 3, CNU 0
Hopkins rode its veterans to a sweep of the Captains in the Blue Jays' first true road match of the season.
Jilienne Widener paced the team in kills with a game-high 13 on an impressive .440 hitting percentage while
Kate Danaher had a team-high 17 assists. Defensively it was Danaher and
Evelyn Batista sharing the team lead in digs at 10 apiece, with Batista also tying her career-best mark in aces with five.
The Blue Jays' offense was firing on all cylinders in the opening set, hitting .429 and committing zero errors while CNU was held to just .100 as a team. The Captains scored the first two points of the match, but a service error gave Hopkins its first tally of the afternoon and would kick start a 6-1 run capped off by an
Alice Yu kill to put the Jays in front 6-3.
A 5-1 one run in the middle of the set ballooned Hopkins' lead to 14-8, with CNU getting as close as 19-15 before a
Simrin Carlsen kill ignited a set-closing 6-1 to give the Blue Jays the 25-16 win.
The second set of Saturday's opener was much closer, with Hopkins' hitting percentage dropping to a match-low .098 — the Jays committed 10 errors in the set after going the entire first set without committing one — while the Captains' rose to .200. Despite the flip in percentages Hopkins was still able to pull out the set behind an impressive effort by Widener.
The frame opened with a service error before the Blue Jays rattled off the next six points to take early control. Errors began to plague Hopkins, allowing CNU to cut into and eventually take the lead at 10-8. Kills from
Brooklyn Pater and
Alice Yu leveled things at 10 before a back-and-forth affair began that saw the sides remain within two points of each other until the score read 21-21. From there it was Widener who took over, scoring each of the Blue Jays' next three points to give them a 24-23 lead, with a pair of Captains errors closing the set 26-24.
The start of the third set belonged to CNU, who spread the ball around for consecutive kills from four different players to take an 8-3 lead early. Hopkins used aces from
Pamela Chiakpo and
Roxy Karrer to cut the lead to three at 11-8 before 6-0 run that started with a Pater kill and ended with back-to-back aces from Batista gave the Blue Jays back the lead at 14-11. A 4-0 run from Hopkins later in the set appeared to put the game out of reach, but a 3-0 response from the Captains leveled things at 22 before Widener rattled off the final three points to seal the set and match.
Game 2: Johns Hopkins 1, Juniata 3
The Blue Jays struggled early against the top-ranked Eagles, being held to a season-low hitting percentage of -.161 in the first set en route to a 25-16 defeat. Hopkins took an early 2-1 lead on a kill from Chiakpo, but it was Juniata going on an extended 15-4 run to fly in front 16-6. Still down double figures at 24-12, Adam sparked another 4-0 run before an Eagles kill ended Set 1 — the first set the Blue Jays lost on the year.
With a change in sides came a shift in momentum, with Hopkins upping its hitting percentage to .265 compared to .195 for Juniata in the set en route to handing the Eagles their first set loss of the season. Juniata held a narrow advantage for much of the set before an attacking error leveled things at 15. After the Eagles retook the lead at 16-15 it was the Blue Jays rattling off five of the next six points to go up 20-17. The sides traded blows until the score read 22-20, with a kill from Chiakpo and setting error from Juniata making it set point before Danaher slipped one over the net for the final point to tie things at one.
Whereas Hopkins' attack came to life in the second set, it was the Eagles hitting a match high .405 in the third to put the Blue Jays on the back foot. Hopkins found itself up 2-1 to start the set, but the lead was short lived as Juniata would turn the one-point deficit into a 10-point lead at 18-8. Three straight Carlsen kills served as one final attempt to put the Blue Jays back in contention before the Eagles ended the frame on a 7-3 run to take the 25-15 decision.
Saturday's final set was up-and-down for Hopkins, which saw its hitting percentage dip back down to .000 while Juniata hit .321. The Blue Jays found themselves down 6-1 early but fought all the way back to make it a two-point set at 11-9. A 4-0 Eagles run was answered by a 2-0 spurt that included an Adam kill — the junior's fifth of six kills on the day — and Batista's third ace of the afternoon before Juniata ended the set and match on a 10-1 run.
For their efforts across all three matches, Widener and Batista were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Hopkins returns to action next weekend to take part in the East West Classic in which they'll face off against eighth-ranked Trinity (TX) and Cal Lutheran Friday, Sept. 6 before taking on ninth-ranked Emory September 7. First serve of the Blue Jays' opening match against the Tigers is at 12 p.m. CT.
