BALTIMORE, MD - For the first time in program history, the Johns Hopkins volleyball defeated Gettysburg, 3-1, to win the Centennial Conference Championship Tournament Title and earn the CC automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Blue Jays defeated the Bullets by sets scores of 21-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-23.
In a rematch of the 2004 championship match, the Blue Jays ended their tournament championship draught and became just the fifth team to earn the conference title, joining Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall, Haverford and McDaniel.
The Blue Jays, who move to 25-4 on the season after winning the regular season crown as well, have guaranteed themselves the best winning percentage in program history. With the loss, the Bullets end their season at 19-11.
Hopkins found itself in a hole early in the first set after battling point-for-point before Gettysburg pulled away to an 8-3 lead behind four straight points off the serving of Katie McConville. The Blue Jays would battle hard to pull within five at 20-15 but could not overcome the Bullets as Gettysburg used timely kills to hang on for a 25-21 win in the opening set.
Johns Hopkins once again found itself down to Gettysburg to open the second set, but the Blue Jays chipped away at the lead and tied the set at 12. The Blue Jays offense took control of the set and built Hopkins its first substantial lead of the set at 18-14. The Bullets were not finished, however, and chipped away at the Blue Jay lead until the set was once again even, this time at 19 all. The teams traded four possessions to give the Bullets their final lead of the game at 21-20 before a kill from freshman Katie Schwarz got classmate Anne Cohen to the service line. Cohen served four-straight points, including a kill from freshmen Ellen Rogers, Schwarz and Megan Schwarz to close out the set and give Blue Jays a 25-21 win and tie the match at 1-1.
The Blue Jays once again trailed in the early part of the third set, but would hold a slight advantage at 10-7 before the Bullets tied the set at 11. Hopkins took advantage of a Bullet service error as senior Melissa Cole took a set from Katie Schwarz to kick off a six-point run to give Hopkins a 16-11 lead. The two teams continued to battle and exchange possessions as it has become standard in the championship match before the Blue Jays pulled out their biggest lead of the game at 24-17 behind a kill from Donohoe. The Bullets would get one back before head coach Matt Troy called a timeout if for no other reason than to settle his young front line. The timeout seemed to pay off as freshman Kim Bronson took a perfect set from classmate Mariel Metalios and ended the match at 25-18 with a hard hit kill.
The Blue Jays led two sets to one and were on the verge of securing their first Centennial tournament championship with the momentum of the match behind Hopkins going into the fourth set. Cole used that momentum and opened the set with a kill from junior Becky Paynter to kick off four-straight points for the Blue Jays. The Bullets would battle back, but could not over come Hopkins as the Blue Jays would not surrender the lead until late in the set.
The Bullets eventually tied the fourth set at 16 with a four-point run, but got two back to hold a slim 18-16 margin. Rebecca Rubenstein served four-straight for Gettysburg and the Blue Jays found themselves tied with the Bullets once again at 19 each. After an attack error by Bronson, once again Hopkins called a timeout down one at 19-20. The Blue Jays had a lot of fight left in them and battled the Bullets point-for-point before they held the first match point of the game at 24-23. Donohoe ended the set and match as Cole began this final set with a hard hit kill from Metalios. The Blue Jays took the final set 25-23.
Katie Schwarz had a career match in her short time in a Blue Jay uniform with a personal-career and team-season high 20 kills and a personal-high 22 digs. Cole added 16 digs to move into 10th all time for the Blue Jays with 997 career digs. Paynter had personal-season high 32 assists while Metalios chipped in 23. Cole finished the set with 13 kills with Donohoe right behind with 12. Cohen was second in the match with 19 digs.