BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team opened up its home slate in a big way Friday night, sweeping the 19^th-ranked Ithaca Bombers 3-0 (25-17, 28-26, 25-23) on Day 1 of the Greg Giovanazzi Memorial Tournament. The empathic win moves the Blue Jays to 6-1 on the season while the loss drops Ithaca to 5-2.
 
The offense ran through Simone Adam all night, with the junior piling on a match-high 19 kills at a .395 clip to give the Menlo Park, CA native her highest kill tally in a three-set match since 2022. Adam was joined in double figures by Simrin Carlsen (12), with the senior also finishing with a team-best 10 digs on the night. Elsewhere on the court it was Evelyn Batista pacing the Jays with four aces while Brooklyn Pater tallied three blocks to pair with her perfect 7-7 night on the attacking side in an all-around win for Hopkins.
 
The Blue Jays (6-1) could do no wrong in a first set where they hit a match-best .485 compared to .219 for Ithaca (5-2). What started as a tight set quickly turned in Hopkins' favor after a kill by Alice Yu ignited a 5-0 run to put the Blue Jays up 17-10. The Bombers got as close as three at 19-16 before Carlsen rattled off the next three points herself — the senior had seven kills in the first set alone — with an attack error building the advantage back to 23-16. Ithaca tallied one final point before Pater closed things out with a kill and block to take Set 1 25-17.
 
Friday's second set was as back-and-forth an affair as you'll find, with neither side holding a lead greater than three in the entire frame. Down 5-3 early, a pair of Batista aces as well as kills from Carlsen and Jilienne Widener turned the deficit into an 8-6 lead. Consecutive kills from Adam kept Hopkins in front by two after the Bombers had tied things at 11, but a 4-0 burst by Ithaca put the visitors back in the lead at 16-14. The Bombers tried to pull away, but Adam was there with three straight responses, bringing her kill total for the set up to eight and keeping it a two-point set.
 
An attacking error by Carlsen set the Bombers up with two set points with the score reading 24-22, but the senior flexed her short-term memory by tying things at 24 and again at 25 before the second set came to a close with yet another denial. With the Blue Jays up 27-26 following a pair of Ithaca errors, Pater and Roxy Karrer went up for the block and sent the ball crashing down on the Bombers' side to complete the comeback and go up two sets to none.
 
Set 3 saw Hopkins down for its majority before the Blue Jays rode their hot hands to the 25-23 set and match win. The hosts trailed by as many as four at 17-13 following Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu's ninth kill of the evening before Adam, Carlsen and Batista's fourth ace made it a one-point affair. A Carlsen ender was answered by another Bomber kill to win Ithaca the race to 20, but a pair of errors followed by Adam's 19^th and final kill as well as block assist with Pamela Chiakpo put the Blue Jays up 22-20.
 
Adam, who had committed just two errors on the night, doubled her tally to knot things again at 22 before Widener and Pater combined for three of the set's next four points, with the graduate transfer's eighth kill of the match ending things in Baltimore in sweeping fashion.
 
Hopkins is back in action Saturday, Sept. 14 to take on both Susquehanna and Marymount in Day 2 of the Greg Giovanazzi Memorial Tournament, with its first match set for 12:30 p.m.