THE FACTS
No. 10 Johns Hopkins (25-4) 3, Gettysburg (23-5) 0
What: Centennial Conference (CC) volleyball tournament championship
When: Sunday, Nov. 12
Where: Baltimore, Md.
THE SKINNY STORY
Johns Hopkins, ranked 10th in the latest AVCA Div. III coaches' poll, put away key points when the top seed needed it most to stem Gettysburg rallies each time, marching to a seventh straight Centennial Conference championship with a 3-0 victory.
THE LEADERS
•
Mary Huegel (Marlboro, N.J./Colts Neck) led the Bullets with eight total blocks and three kills.
•
Alycen Radolovic (Willoughby, Ohio/Beaumont School) paced the attack with 12 kills.
•
Chelsea O'Leary (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) led the defense with 18 digs.
FOR THE FOES
• Alice Yu recorded nine kills and five blocks to lead the Blue Jays, who claimed the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament to begin on Thursday at eight regional sites.
• Helena Swaak contributed 33 assists and five blocks to secure tournament most valuable player honors.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Three straight Gettysburg kills staked the visitors to an early 4-2 edge in the first set. A Simone Adam kill and Grace Reininga ace evened the set at 4-all and started a 6-0 run that put Johns Hopkins on top 8-4. The Bullets twice closed back to within one before the Blue Jays stretched the lead out to 14-9 and forced a timeout. A block from
Izzy Lugar (Wilmington, Del./Charter School of Wilmington) and
Mary Huegel capped a 5-2 burst out of the break before a Johns Hopkins timeout to halt the momentum and the hosts ran off four straight points to stretch the lead to 20-14 en route to a 25-18 set-one win.
• Three
Alycen Radolovic kills helped staked Gettysburg to a 5-2 lead in the second set and force an early Blue Jay timeout. Back-to-back Alice Yu kills and a Yu-Helena Swaak block evened the set at 6-all, however. The run out of the stoppage stretched to 7-1 before a Bullet timeout at 9-6. After the Blue Jays were called for being over the net, Heugel put down back-to-back aces to close the margin to 12-11. A ball-handling error and long rally that ended with Pamela Chaikpo painting the back line stretched the lead back to 14-11 to spark a push that extended the lead to 19-13. Gettysburg closed to within 19-17 on a
Chelsea O'Leary (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) ace. The Bullets got as close as one twice but the Blue Jays scored the final four points for a 25-20 win.
• Gettysburg jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the third set but Johns Hopkins responded with four straight points to take a 7-5 edge. After a
Brooke Lauletta (Coatesville, Pa./Downingtown East) kill, two Roxy Karrer aces keyed a stretch of three-straight points to open up a 10-6 lead. A run of errors made it a 10-9 score.
Catherine Holtz (Chester, N.J./West Morris Mendham) and
Olivia Biggs (Winchester, Va./James Wood) combined for a block to tie the score at 12-all but the Blue Jays ran off four straight. This time, however, Gettysburg had the response with five in a row of its own to take a 17-16 edge in the set and force a timeout. Another Radolovic kill stretched the lead to 18-16 out of the break. The answer came once again from the hosts with another 4-0 run to go up 20-18 and force a timeout on the other side. Onukwugha had a block and kill for the go-ahead points. Johns Hopkins reached championship point before Huegel served back-to-back points to make it 24-23 and force the Blue Jays to take their final timeout before getting the winner right out of the stoppage.
THE INSIDE STORY
• The Blue Jays captured their 10th conference title overall – all since 2011. It is the second-most Centennial titles all-time to the Bullets' 11.
• Gettysburg finished with 10 total blocks as a team.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg will wait to see if it earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Div. III tournament when the field is announced on Monday at 1 p.m.
