BALTIMORE, MD – The top-seeded, ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins volleyball team punched its ticket to the Centennial Conference Tournament Championship on Friday evening, defeating Gettysburg in four sets, 3-1 (28-30, 25-15, 25-20, 25-16) inside Goldfarb Gymnasium. With the win, the Blue Jays advance to the conference title match for the ninth straight season.
Gettysburg jumped out to a 5-2 start in the opening frame before a
Michela De Marzi kill pulled Hopkins even at 5-5. After trading points to 9-9, the Bullets surged ahead with five straight to take a 14-9 lead. Hopkins chipped away and eventually used a five-point burst—highlighted by a pair of service aces from
Charlotte Voss—to tie the set at 21-21. The teams went point-for-point down the stretch, with
Jocelyn Pye dropping a ball inside the line to give Hopkins set point at 26-25. But tied at 28, Gettysburg capitalized on consecutive points to steal the opener, 30-28.
The Blue Jays responded emphatically in set two, racing to an 8-2 lead behind kills from
Alice Yu, De Marzi,
Helena Swaak and
Simone Adam, along with blocks from De Marzi and Adam. Hopkins maintained control throughout, extending the margin to 22-12 on an Adam kill.
Celine Ebert's ninth kill of the night set up set point at 24-13, and Pye closed it out a few rallies later to even the match, 25-15.
Set three remained tight early, with the teams locked at 7-7 before Pye fueled a three-point run to put Hopkins up 10-7. Gettysburg answered with three straight of its own to tie it at 10-10, and the duel continued until a decisive four-point Hopkins run—again capped by a Pye kill—pushed the Jays ahead 19-14. A deft De Marzi drop shot delivered set point at 24-19, and Ebert's 11th kill sealed the 25-20 win and a 2-1 match lead.
Hopkins carried that momentum into the fourth, storming out to a 7-1 advantage behind two Yu kills and a pair of De Marzi blocks. Gettysburg closed within one at 9-8, but the Blue Jays countered immediately, with Pye hammering three consecutive kills to spark a four-point run and restore a five-point cushion. Another five-point stretch, capped by two more Yu kills, extended the margin to 18-10. Swaak's service ace set up match point at 24-15, and Adam finished the night with her match-high 19th kill to secure the 25-16 victory and Hopkins' place in Sunday's final.
Defensively,
Nicole Tuszynski anchored the back row with a team-high 21 digs, while De Marzi and Adam formed a formidable front-row wall, each tallying six blocks. Adam paced the offense with 19 kills, and De Marzi added 12 more while hitting .750—the second-highest hitting percentage in Hopkins' Centennial Conference Tournament history.
The Blue Jays return to Goldfarb Gymnasium on Sunday, November 16, to face Franklin & Marshall in the Centennial Conference Championship.
