ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – In the team's second-straight five-set thriller, the fifth-seeded Marymount (Va.) University women's volleyball team came up just short on the road against fourth-seeded St. Mary's College of Maryland, 3-2 (16-25, 25-23, 25-11, 18-25, 12-15), in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament on Tuesday night.  

The first set played in the favor of the Seahawks, who jumped out to an early lead that it wouldn't surrender throughout. But the second set was quite different, as it remained close throughout until the Saints grabbed the lead late and battled to tie the match up at 1-1. 

A kill by sophomore Margaret McAlpin gave Marymount its biggest lead of the second set, 22-18, but St. Mary's chipped away at the advantage to draw it even at 22-22 on a four-point run. Margaret shut down the run with another kill, while three volleys later, senior Morgan McAlpin put the final touch on the set with a kill of her own for the 25-23 victory. 

The Saints continued to build momentum with a dominating third set, cruising to a 25-11 victory. Although the Seahawks landed the first point in the set, Marymount put together a six-point run to push the advantage that it wouldn't surrender. In the stretch, Morgan, junior Emileigh Rettig and freshman Caroline Hanson all landed kills. The spread continued to grow, eventually hitting double digits for the Saints following a block assist by Rettig and junior Cailyn Thomas. Not slowing down, MU capped off the set off a ball-handling error by the Seahawks and another block assist by junior Mallory Mitchell and Morgan. 

The fourth set was a close one until St. Mary's grabbed a lead midway through that gave it just enough momentum to push a deciding set. Entering into the final game, the Seahawks hit the eight-point mark first triggering the teams to switch sides with an 8-6 lead. With the two-point lead, St. Mary's continued to push to the final point, sealing up the match at 15-12. 

On the attack, Morgan paced the offense with a match-high 14 kills, while leading the team in kill percentage with .344. Senior Courtney Phung held strong on the defensive end with a match-high 23 digs, while Thomas posted another match high in blocks with seven total. On the assist side, Hanson and sophomore Christine Tieman divided up the helpers with 24 and 22, respectively. 

The women will now await for an announcement on Monday, November 9, to find out if their season will continue in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III South Championship. Be sure to check out www.marymountsaints.com as the information becomes available.