The Basics 
• Score: #6 Johns Hopkins – 3 • Swarthmore – 0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-13)
• Records: #6 Johns Hopkins (28-0, 10-0 Centennial) • Swarthmore – (16-12, 6-4 Centennial)
• Location: Baltimore, MD • Goldfarb Gymnasium
• The Short Story: Turning the page to postseason play, the sixth-ranked Blue Jay volleyball team continued its dominance with a three-set sweep of Swarthmore. The win advanced Hopkins to its fourth straight Centennial Conference title match, and broke a conference-record for the longest winning streak in conference history.

How it Happened

SET ONE
• Sophomore Eleni Panagopoulos opened the semifinal match with kills on two of the first four points, and the Blue Jays jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. Back-to-back points from the Garnet cut the lead in half before Hopkins rebounded with four more unanswered to extend its advantage to 8-2.
• It took till the midway point of the opening frame for Simone Bliss to tally her first kill, which extended the Jays lead to 13-6, their largest of the afternoon to that point. Filling in for injured Natalie Aston, freshman Annelisa O'Neal made her first career start and demonstrated early and often that she would be willing to attack on the second touch. O'Neal's first of five kills halted a Swarthmore run and pushed the Blue Jay lead to 18-15 after the Garnet had trimmed the deficit to two.
• With Hopkins leading 20-16, senior Louisa Kishton served out the remaining five points for the Jays, capped by a Lauren Anthony kill, her third of the opening game.

SET TWO
• Neither side could muster more than two consecutive points over the first 14 points of the second set. With the score knotted at 7-7, Hopkins found the first cushion of the game, stringing together four straight to take an 11-7 advantage. The sides would then flip-flop the next ten points once again.
• An Anthony kill pushed the Blue Jay lead to 20-15. Following two consecutive Garnet points, Bliss decided to take matters into her own hands, scoring kills on four consecutive points to close out a 25-18 second set victory.

SET THREE
• Swarthmore again made things interesting to open the third, with neither team leading by more than a pair until Hopkins scored three unanswered to take a 14-11 lead. It was another O'Neal kill on the second touch that sparked the mini scoring run.
• Following a Sierra Tyson ace to cut the Blue Jay lead to 14-13, Anthony tallied a kill and followed with an ace to stymie the Garnet momentum.
• A Bliss kill gave Hopkins match point at 24-21, and it was the freshman O'Neal that fittingly finished things off with her fifth kill of the day.

Inside the Box Score
• The Blue Jays hit .293 in the match, with a trio of Jays totaling at least nine kills; Bliss (14), Panagopoulos (10) and Anthony (9).
• As mentioned, O'Neal was outstanding in her first career start, registering a double-double with 37 assists and 14 digs while joining in on the attack with five kills on nine swings.
 
What it Means
• The Blue Jays will host Franklin & Marshall for the second time in just over a week, this time for the Centennial Conference Championship. Johns Hopkins is in search of their fourth-straight Centennial Conference championship.
• With the win, Hopkins extends its winning streak to 28 matches. That surpasses the 2003 Gettysburg team for the longest winning streak in Centennial Conference volleyball history.
• The Blue Jays are now just one win away from matching the program-record for victories in a season set by the 2012 club (29).

Up Next
• The Blue Jays host second-seeded Franklin & Marshall tomorrow afternoon in the 2019 Centennial Conference Championship match. First serve is set for 1 p.m. inside Goldfarb Gymnasium.