BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins volleyball team rallied to force a deciding fifth set, but Franklin & Marshall held off the Blue Jays to earn a 3-2 (13-25, 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 15-12) victory Saturday afternoon inside Goldfarb Gymnasium. The loss marks the second-straight five-set defeat for Hopkins, which falls to 10-7 overall and 3-2 in Centennial Conference play.
The Blue Jays came out firing, dominating the opening set behind a fast start and a strong presence at the net. Hopkins scored the first six points, including a pair of blocks from
Bethany Sherwood,
Emma Wang and
Ivy Swafford, and later closed the set by winning 11 of the final 12 points to take a 25-13 victory.
Franklin & Marshall (11-6, 4-0 CC) responded by tightening the match, using a pair of key scoring runs to take the next two sets and move within a set of the win. Hopkins struggled to find the same offensive rhythm it had in the opener, but remained within striking distance as the team's traded momentum through the middle of the match.
Facing elimination in the fourth, the Blue Jays found another gear. After falling behind 4-0, Hopkins quickly regrouped, with Swafford's emphatic kill helping spark a turnaround. A
Nicole Tuszynski service ace fueled a stretch that put the Blue Jays in front, and
Celine Ebert helped maintain the advantage as Hopkins built a five-point lead, 18-13.
The Diplomats answered with a late surge of their own, scoring eight of the next nine points to take a 21-19 lead and put the match within reach. Hopkins refused to go quietly, however, as
Josephine Kinlan delivered back-to-back kills to help secure a 25-23 win and send the match to a deciding fifth set.
Franklin & Marshall seized control early in the fifth, opening up an 8-3 advantage. Hopkins continued to battle and pulled within two on multiple occasions, but the deficit proved too much to overcome as the Diplomats closed out the 15-12 set to claim the match.
Swafford led the Blue Jays with 21 kills, while Kinlan added eight. Sherwood anchored the defense at the net with five blocks, and Tuszynski paced Hopkins with a match-high 25 digs.
Hopkins returns to action Wednesday, October 21, traveling to Westminster, MD, to face McDaniel in Centennial Conference play. First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Gill Center.
