BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team concluded the Hopkins Invitational with dominate wins over UMass Dartmouth, 3-0, and Colby-Sawyer, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at Goldfarb Gymnasium. The Blue Jays defeated both the Corsairs (29-27, 25-9, 25-15) and the Chargers (25-11, 25-17, 25-15) in straight sets, improving to 6-0 on the season.

An annual tradition, an All-Tournament Team was selected by the head coaches of the four participating programs at the conclusion of the event. Earning the distinction were Bree Bacon (Colby-Sawyer), Gabby Jones and Ari Villanueva (Hardin-Simmons), Olivia Seutter (UMass-Dartmouth) and Michela De Marzi and Helena Swaak (Johns Hopkins).

Game 1: Johns Hopkins 3, UMass Dartmouth 0
The Blue Jays overcame a shaky start to sweep UMass Dartmouth in straight sets. Hopkins fell behind 8-0 to open the match—its largest deficit of the year—before a substitution sparked the turnaround. Anna Pantano provided the much-needed spark off the bench, energizing the offense with a pair of service aces to finally get Hopkins on the board.
 
Still trailing 15-9, the Blue Jays found their rhythm. Kills from Simone Adam, Alice Yu, Helena Swaak and Pantano powered a run that gave Hopkins its first lead of the match at 17-16. After falling behind again, 20-17, the Blue Jays stayed composed in crunch time. Down 27-26 in a tense opening frame, Hopkins rattled off three straight points to steal the set, 29-27, sealing it on a set-point error from UMass Dartmouth's Ashley Serverius.
 
The next two sets told a different story. Hopkins controlled the second set from start to finish, jumping out to an 11-2 lead and cruising to a 25-9 victory. After a brief exchange of side-outs, the Blue Jays extended the margin to 24-8 before freshman Jocelyn Pye closed the door with a decisive kill off a Swaak assist.
 
UMass Dartmouth put up more resistance in the third set, but Hopkins' firepower proved too much. After trading points early, the Blue Jays turned a 17-10 advantage into a commanding 21-11 lead. From there, they conceded just four more points. The match ended on a kill from Adam—her 12th of the match—capping off a dominant offensive performance where she hit .444, the highest efficiency of the day.
 
On the defensive end, Yu anchored the net with a game-high seven blocks, while Michela De Marzi and Celine Ebert chipped in with five blocks apiece. Swaak continued her strong all-around play, recording her second double-double of the season with 15 assists and 13 digs, adding four blocks to her stat line as well.
 
Game 2: Johns Hopkins 3, Colby-Sawyer 0
In their second match of the day, the Blue Jays left no doubt, cruising to a straight-set victory over Colby-Sawyer behind a commanding performance in every facet of the game. Hopkins led in every major statistical category, including a 40-20 advantage in kills and a blistering .413 team hitting percentage—compared to just .067 from the Chargers.
 
The first set lasted just 14 minutes—the shortest frame of the season for the Blue Jays—and showcased an offensive masterclass. Hopkins hit an eye-popping .737 in the opening set while surrendering just 11 points. After jumping out to a 13-3 lead, fueled by kills from Adam (3), Yu (2), De Marzi (1) and Ebert (1), the Blue Jays maintained at least a 10-point cushion en route to a dominant 25-11 win.
 
Colby-Sawyer made a stronger push in the second set, but Hopkins never let the Chargers gain traction. Early service pressure from Swaak and Annika Anderson, who each tallied a team-high three aces, pushed the Blue Jays to a quick 10-3 lead. Yu added two more aces late in the set to make it 23-15, and Pantano—who led all players with eight kills—closed it out with a decisive swing to give Hopkins a 2-0 advantage.
 
The third set featured more back-and-forth play early on, but the Blue Jays pulled away thanks to contributions from their freshman corps. Pye, Ella Wismer, Emily Overtoom and Emma Wang each recorded at least one kill. With the lead extended to 20-11, Hopkins sealed the match on a kill from De Marzi, assisted by Wang, completing the sweep.
 
Defensively, Grace Wilhelm anchored the back row with a match-high 10 digs, while Yu and Wismer each notched three blocks at the net to help neutralize the Chargers' offense.
 
The Blue Jays now hit the road for a nine-match stretch, beginning Friday, September 12, at the Carnegie Mellon Quad. Hopkins will open the weekend with its first ranked matchup of the season against No. 18 Ithaca at 4PM, followed by showdowns against No. 8 MIT and host Carnegie Mellon.