Semifinal (at Gettysburg): Gettysburg d. Haverford, 30-21,
30-24, 30-15
Semifinal (at Gettysburg): Johns Hopkins d. Franklin &
Marshall, 30-19, 23-30, 30-26, 26-30, 15-6
Final (at Gettysburg): Gettysburg d. Johns Hopkins, 30-22, 30-26,
21-30, 30-21
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Junior Nicole Barr (Annapolis, MD/Broadneck) made her 20th kill of the championship match the most important one, sealing a 30-21 game four Gettysburg victory to defeat Johns Hopkins 3-1 in the championship match of the 2003 Centennial Conference (CC) volleyball tournament on Saturday.
With the victory, the Bullets (32-5) earn their third-straight conference title and ninth overall. Gettysburg also earns the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, which begins with regional play on Thursday. The 2003 field will be announced late Sunday night.
Barr tacked on a season-high 22 digs for her team-leading tenth double-double of the season. Classmate Jessica Cortese (Lancaster, PA/Hempfield) was a dig shy of her ninth double-double, finishing the match with 12 kills and nine digs. Sophomore ShannanSmith (MilmontPark, PA/Ridley) added 47 assists and 12 digs.
The Blue Jays (23-8) were led by Stephanie Kaliades with 26 kills. Betsy Baydala added 53 assists, while Kate O’Callaghan and Baydala steadied the defense with 20 and 18 digs, respectively.
Johns Hopkins took a 12-11 lead in the third game off a Gettysburg serving error and never again trailed in the game en route to a 30-21 win to force the fourth game, trailing 2-1 in the match.
Senior Michelle Dorsch (Frederick, MD/Governor Thomas Johnson) served the opening four points of the game before the Blue Jays slowly climbed back into the game, eventually knotting the game at 8-all before the JHU run.
Gettysburg once again got on the board first in game four, like it had in each of the first three, on a Dorsch kill. Leading 3-2, an ace by Smith stretched the lead to 4-2.
Barr and Smith hooked up three times over the course of the next seven points to push the lead to 8-5. Two service points, including an ace, by Barr gave the Bullets a five-point cushion.
Leading 19-12, Cortese all but put the match away with three straight points to open up a 10-point advantage en route to Gettysburg’s 26th-consecutive victory of the season, tying a program record set first in 1996.
Games one and two opened almost identical to each other with Dorsch serving three points to open 3-0 and 4-0 leads, respectively. The Bullets never trailed in either game as well.
In the first game, Gettysburg used seven kills and a pair of blocks along the way from Barr to put up a 30-22 win.
In the second game, Cortese and Barr recorded seven and six kills, respectively, to help the Bullets to a 30-26 win.
Freshman Hillary Prutzman (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) took the serve with a 15-13 advantage and served five points for Gettysburg to extend the lead to 20-13.
Baydala cut into a 24-19 deficit with three points to cut it to 24-22, but kills by Barr off Smith assists over the final stretch gave Gettysburg a 2-0 lead in the match.
Freshman StephVial (Hanover, PA/Delone Catholic) notched a career-high 24 digs, and Prutzman and Barr tallied five total blocks apiece.
In the Bullets’ semifinal match, Gettysburg swept Haverford 30-21, 30-24, 30-15 to advance to the title match.
The Bullets were once again led by Cortese and Barr with 14 and 11 kills, respectively. Smith added another 42 assists and 11 digs, while Vial also tallied 11 digs.
The Fords (19-10) were led by JelynMeyer with 12 kills and 11 digs. Samantha Thomson added 14 assists.
In game one, Prutzman turned a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 advantage with her first serve, and Gettysburg never again trailed en route to the 1-0 match lead.
In the second game, it was Dorsch who gave the Bullets the lead for good with her second serving opportunity of the game. With the match tied at 10, she served three points for a 13-10 advantage en route to the 2-0 lead in the match.
In the third game, Haverford served just two of its 15 points.
Cortese opened up the game with five-straight service points to give Gettysburg a 9-3 lead. Margaret Hallahan (Huntingdon, PA/Huntingdon) extended a 23-12 lead with five more service points.
Johns Hopkins got to the championship match by way of a 3-2 win over Franklin & Marshall. The Blue Jays won the first game 30-19, before the Diplomats (15-13) took a 30-23 decision in game two to knot the match at 1-all.
In game three, Hopkins won 30-26. The Blue Jays held a 7-1 lead in game four, but F&M clawed its way back, and won 30-26.
In the deciding game, JHU broke a 3-all tie with a 10-1 run en route to a 15-6 win.