ARLINGTON, Va. – It was the final regular-season matchup on Saturday afternoon for the Marymount (Va.) University women's volleyball team, as it put together one of the most thrilling matches of the season against No. 5 Christopher Newport University. Pushing the match to a fifth-set extra points, the Captains would seal the deal up 17-15 to take the 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 15-17) decision over the Saints. 

It was a back-and-forth battle throughout the match, trading sets throughout to eventually take it to a deciding set. Although CNU grabbed the first set, Marymount answered back in stellar style in the second set with a commanding 25-19 victory. Almost pulling the comeback in the third set, the Saints deficit was too much to overcome, as they dropped it 25-22. 

The fourth set saw a late rally by Marymount, as it trailed the Captains, 14-9. But that didn't hold the Saints back, using a 9-3 run to draw the score even at 17-17. In the stretch, MU fired out six kills including two apiece from freshman Emily Abramaitys and junior Emileigh Rettig. The momentum swung in the run, as the Saints kept their foot on the pedal to the end of the set, as senior Morgan McAlpin slammed down a kill to seal up a 25-21 victory and send the match to a deciding set. For the set, the Saints pieced together a great attack with 17 kills on a .467 kill percentage. 

Although the start of the fifth set played in the favor of CNU, Marymount battled back to take a 10-6 advantage, a part of an 8-1 run. The Captains continued to chip away at the MU lead, drawing the score even at 13-13. From that point, it was back-and-forth with two more ties until Christopher Newport capped off the match in extra points with a kill and a block to take the 17-15 decision. 

For the match, four Saints found double figures on the attack, seeing Rettig (12), Abramaitys (10), Morgan (10), and sophomore Margaret McAlpin (10) lead the squad in kills. Senior Courtney Phung held strong on the defensive end with a team-high 21 digs, as she moves over 700 in her career. Sophomore Christine Tieman and freshman Caroline Hanson sent out a majority of the assists for the match with 23 and 20, respectively. Hanson was just two kills shy of landing the team's first triple-double of the season, firing off eight kills, 20 assists and diving for 12 digs. Junior Cailyn Thomas played a wall again for the Saints' defense, totaling seven blocks for the match, two solo and five assisted. 

With the outcome of the match, the women have sealed up the fifth seed in the Capital Athletic Conference tournament. The Saints will travel to fourth-seeded St. Mary's College of Maryland on Tuesday, November 3 for first-round play. For more information on start time, be sure to check out www.marymountsaints.com as it becomes available.