PITTSBURGH, PA – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season on Friday afternoon, falling to No. 20 Ithaca in a hard-fought battle inside the Highmark Center. The Bombers edged out Hopkins in four sets (22-25, 25-23, 27-25, 26-24) snapping the Blue Jays' six-match winning streak in a contest filled with long rallies, momentum swings and clutch plays on both sides.
 
Tied at 7-7 early in the first, Hopkins began to create separation behind strong serving and steady play at the net. A service ace from Anna Pantano gave the Blue Jays a 17-13 edge, followed by kills from Alice Yu and Helena Swaak to maintain the cushion. Ithaca clawed back within one at 20-19 after a 4-0 run, but Simone Adam halted the surge with a timely kill, then followed it with her seventh ace of the season. Pantano sealed the set with two late kills, including the set-winner at 25-22, giving Hopkins a 1-0 lead.
 
Neither team led by more than three in a back-and-forth second set. Hopkins took a 12-9 lead on kills from Michela De Marzi and Pantano, but Ithaca responded out of a timeout, tying the set at 14-14. The Bombers eventually pulled ahead 22-20 and reached set point at 24-21. Hopkins fought back with a block from Yu and Celine Ebert to cut it to 24-23, but Ithaca held on to take the second set, 25-23, and even the match at 1-1.
 
Ithaca opened the third frame with a 3-0 run, but Hopkins quickly answered. After tying it at 9-9, the Bombers surged ahead again with a 5-0 burst, pushing the lead to 14-9. Hopkins kept battling—a service ace from Pantano and a Swaak and Yu block helped close the gap to 20-18. A Swaak ace tied the set at 23, and Hopkins briefly took set point at 24-23. But Ithaca capitalized on a pair of Blue Jay errors, closing it out 27-25 to take a 2-1 lead.
 
The final frame mirrored the match—tense and tightly contested. Tied through the early stages, Ithaca took a commanding lead to go up 17-11—their largest lead of the match. Hopkins chipped away with kills from Ebert and Jocelyn Pye, eventually tying it at 23 after a Grace Wilhelm ace and another Swaak kill. After trading points to reach 24-24, the Bombers earned match point and sealed the upset on a Naomi Clauhs kill, taking the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.
 
Defensively, Nicole Tuszynski recorded a team-leading 29 digs, while Yu led the charge at net with five blocks.
 
The Blue Jays return to action Saturday in the final day of the Carnegie Mellon Quad, squaring off against seventh-ranked MIT at 1PM before wrapping the weekend up against host Carnegie Mellon at 5PM.