Release courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications
FREDERICKSBURG, VA- The Johns Hopkins volleyball team dominated once again at the NCAA Tournament as the Blue Jays knocked off Stevens 3-0, for back-to-back sweeps at the tourney, in the second round. Johns Hopkins won in running sets by scores of 25-19, 25-12 and 25-10 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive season.
The Blue Jays were on fire offensively once again, hitting .492 during the match with 34 kills as a team and for the second straight game held their opponent to a negative hitting percentage as Stevens hit -.062 during the contest.
The opening set was back and forth between the two sides early as the teams were all even at seven in the beginning of the set. The Blue Jays pulled away with a 13-5 run to get out to a 20-12 lead. The run was spurred by two aces from freshman Alice Yu and multiple kills by Brooklyn Pater and Simrin Carlsen. Johns Hopkins held off a late run from the Ducks as Pater closed it out with her third kill of the set to give the Blue Jays the 25-19 set win.
Set two was pure domination by the Blue Jays. After a 3-3 tie, Johns Hopkins led the rest of the way in the set to coast to a 25-12 set two victory. The Blue Jays held Stevens to a -.111 hitting percentage and added in three blocks on the defensive end. The offense was just as special in the set adding 12 kills and an impressive .500 hit percentage. Freshman Simone Adam had three kills in the set and Carlsen put together another nice set with a pair of aces and two kills to help Johns Hopkins take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Much like the first set, the first part of the decisive third set started out even at 8-6 before the Blue Jays scored eight out of nine points including seven in a row at one point to take a 15-7 lead. Adam and Carlsen once again led the charge for Johns Hopkins as Adam had two kills in the run and Carlsen added a kill and two aces. The Blue Jays got a match point and drew up a play for junior Pam Chiakpo who finished the match off with the final kill to seal the deal for the Blue Jays, 25-10.
Adam once again led the attack for the Blue Jays with 12 kills followed by Carlsen and Pater who both finished with seven. Helena Swaak added 29 assists to help spur Johns Hopkins offense to success. Carlsen led the Blue Jays in digs followed by sophomore Evelyn Batista who had six.
For the Ducks, Elle Maggio led the way with six kills. Kathleen Rieger led the team in assists with 14 and Bailey Axelrad added five digs.
Notes: The .492 hitting percentage for JHU marks the second highest hit percentage the team has had this season and fourth time they have hit over .400. Adam pushed her season kill total to 387, which ties her with Anita Patibandla for the tenth most kills in a single season in program history. The Blue Jays are now 14-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament; the three straight Sweet 16 appearances are the most consecutive trips in program history; they have now made the Sweet 16 four out of five seasons.
What's Next
The Blue Jays will play the winner of the match-up between the hosts of the regional Mary Washington and Eastern on Saturday, November 12 at 5 pm. Johns Hopkins defeated Eastern 3-0 this season at home on Oct. 15. They are 8-12 all-time versus Mary Washington but have won the last two meetings against them. Mary Washington is also the school where current Blue Jays head coach Matt Troy came to Baltimore from.