BEVERLY, Mass. --- The Moravian College women's volleyball team split a pair of matches on the second day of action at the Endicott University Invitational with the Greyhounds falling to the host Gulls, 3-1, before defeating Colby-Sawyer (N.H.) College, 3-2, in the final match of the tournament.
In the opening match with Endicott, the Hounds won the opening set 25-22 before the Gulls took the next three games 25-23, 25-18, 25-19. In the first set, sophomore libero Jean Markovic helped the Hounds to a 3-0 lead with a service ace while junior middle blocker Taylor Kornmann served up three points to push the lead to 9-4. Moravian would lead the rest of the set and earned the winning set point on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Mary Zacher.
After trailing early in the second set, freshman outside hitter Rachel Farmer served the Hounds to an 8-7 lead, and the Hounds led the set 16-13 before Endicott rallied for the 25-23 set win. Moravian had early leads in both the third and fourth sets before the Gulls came back to win the match.
Zacher led Moravian in the match with Endicott as she recorded 15 kills and 15 digs while Kornmann added 12 kills, four digs and three service aces. Freshman middle blocker Erin Tiger had eight kills and three blocks for the Greyhounds while sophomore outside hitter Jordyn Jacques contributed six kills and junior opposite hitter Jaclyn Smith had four kills.
Senior setter Megan Szkolnicki, who earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team selected by the coaches of the competing teams, led the Moravian offense with 35 assists, and she added nine digs and a pair of kills while Markovic made a team-high 25 digs. Freshman setter Rebecca Purcell added 15 digs while Farmer had 10 digs.
In their final match of the tournament, the Greyhounds posted a 17-25, 25-23, 25-21, 24-26, 15-12 hard-fought victory over Cobly-Sawyer. In the opening set, Moravian had a quick 3-0 lead before Colby-Sawyer took control for the set victory. The Hounds would trail by five points early in the second set before Markovic and Zacher would serve Moravian into the lead. Kornmann would put down a kill to finish of the set win.
The third set would be close until Kornmann went behind the service line late and helped build a 24-21 lead on the way to the set victory. Once again, the fourth set would go back-and-forth with the Hounds holding a 24-22 lead but Colby-Sawyer scored the final four points to knot the match at 2-2. Szkolnicki would serve the Hounds out to a 5-0 lead in the deciding set as Moravian went on to capture the 15-9 set win for their team's 11th victory of the season.
Zacher paced the Greyhounds in the final match with 14 kills, 20 digs and a pair of blocks while Kornmann contributed 13 kills, four digs and three blocks. Tiger added 10 kills while Jacques had nine kills, five digs and two blocks. Smith made four kills and three digs in the victory.
Szkolnicki had a team-leading six service aces to move into a tie for ninth in the Moravian record books with 138 career service aces, and she added 44 assists, 16 digs and four kills versus Colby-Sawyer. Markovic added 17 digs while Purcell contributed nine digs.
Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Thursday, October 15 when the squad hosts Widener University in a non-conference match in Johnston Hall starting at 7:00 p.m.
