ARLINGTON, Va. – Capital Athletic Conference play started out well for the Marymount (Va.) University women's volleyball team. On a perfect day to play an indoor sport, the Saints battled past visiting Penn State University-Harrisburg in a tough four-set match, 3-1 (25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 25-15). 

With the victory, Marymount improves to 13-5 on the season and opens league play in the win column. 

The Saints' attack was led by junior Emileigh Rettig with a match-high 13 kills, followed by the McAlpin sisters, as Morgan McAlpin and Margaret McAlpin both had nine apiece. Freshman Caroline Hanson had a match-high 27 assists, followed by sophomore Christine Tieman with 18. Senior Courtney Phung paced the way on the defensive end with 15 digs. 

Marymount took an early lead in the first set, 4-1. Following a Lions timeout, the Saints stretched their lead from two to six during Morgan's serving run of five. Marymount maintained the lead up to 24-18, but Penn State Harrisburg fought back by scoring five-straight points, bringing the score to 24-23. Hanson made sure the set did not go into extra points with a kill to end it. 

The second set, much like the first, was a battle. There were six ties and two lead changes during the set. Penn State junior Melissa Orlandini tied the score at 10 apiece with a service ace, and followed it up by sending her next serve out of bounds. Three-straight points from the Saints led to a quick Lions timeout in order to regroup. MU continued to extend its lead, eventually causing another Lions timeout. Just after giving up two points to the Lions, freshman Emily Abramaitys ended the game with a hard kill past the Penn State back row. 

Identical to the second set, the third set had six ties and two lead changes. Neither team had more than a three-point lead at any point in the third set, showing just how back-and-forth each point was. With 25 of the 48 points scored in this set by both teams coming from errors, the Saints needed a strong fourth set to finalize the match. 

The Saints took care of business in the fourth game behind five kills from Morgan and four from Rettig. Junior Cailyn Thomas added back-to-back kills, as well as an ace to pace the Saints to a very quick 16-8 lead. The Saints did not trail at all in the set and ended strong with a 25-15 final. 

The women will remain at home next week for their annual Dig Pink match to support the fight against breast cancer. The match will take place at 6 p.m., on Wednesday, October 7 against conference foe Frostburg State University.