Rivera Reaches Career High in Digs Against Messiah

GETTYSBURG, PA -- The Washington College volleyball team dropped its first two matches of the season today at the Gettysburg Battlefield Classic. The Shorewomen dropped their first match of the day to three-time defending Capital Athletic Conference Champion Salisbury, 25-15, 25-5, 25-14 and then fell in four sets to Messiah, 25-17, 26-24, 21-25, 25-19.

Against Salisbury, the Shorewomen were even at 9-9 in the first set and later trailed, 15-12, before the Sea Gulls scored six of the next seven points to open up a 21-13 advantage.  In set two, Carley Todd served 16 straight points for the Sea Gulls, with eight aces during that span, as Salisbury scored 23 of the first 25 points. The Sea Gulls got off to another hot start in the third set, jumping out to an 8-1 lead.

Todd was a thorn in the Shorewomen's side all match, finishing one kill shy of a triple double. She hit .727 on nine kills against one error in 11 attempts, registered 13 assists, and served 12 aces. Her efforts led an efficient attack by Salisbury, which totaled 34 kills against eight errors in 55 attempts.  Jenna Shay had seven kills for the Sea Gulls, while Erin Lange had a match-best eight digs.

Sophomore outside hitter Jenny Lee (Wilmington, DE/Mount Pleasant) led Washington with seven kills against one error in 14 attempts against the Sea Gulls. Freshman setter Lauren White (Huntingtown, MD/Huntingtown) tallied 11 assists in her collegiate debut.

In the match versus Messiah, Washington held an 11-9 lead in the first set before the Falcons finished the set with a 16-6 run. In the second set, Messiah staved off a set point from the Shorewomen when Megan Myers pounded down a kill to even the score at 24-24. Jessica Geib then served an ace to put the Falcons up one and Emily Hall finished off the set with a kill.  The Shorewomen finished the third set by scoring eight of the final 10 points, winning it on a kill by Lee.  Messiah ran off the final six points of the fourth set to capture the match on a kill by Ann Reck.

Lindsay King led Messiah with 12 kills, while Jordan Scheib added ten. Geib finished with 41 assists and nine digs, while Megan Wise added a match-high 23 digs.

Sophomore defensive specialist Rita Rivera (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth-Whitemarsh) scooped out a career-high 18 digs for Washington, while Lee had a double-double of 11 kills and 10 digs. White had 31 assists and eight digs, while junior outside hitter Alyssa Forget (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) registered 10 kills and senior middle hitter Maria Whitman (Galesville, MD/Southern) added a match-best three block assists to go along with five kills. Freshman middle hitter Julia Erbe (Baltimore, MD/Pikesville) contributed six kills against one error in 13 attempts in her second collegiate match.

The Shorewomen wrap up play at the Battlefield Classic tomorrow with a 10:00 a.m. match against Scranton and a noon match against Division II Lincoln.