FREDERICK, Md.--The Hood College volleyball team (2-19) ended
its season with a 3-0 loss to the visiting Catholic University
Cardinals (8-24) Thursday evening at Gambrill Gymnasium.
The first set featured three ties and four lead changes in the
early going before Catholic snapped a 9-9 tie by scoring six
straight points, the last on an ace by Molly Owens to make it 15-9.
Hood got no closer than five the rest of the way and the Cardinals
took an early 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-16 triumph.
In the second set, Catholic outscored the Blazers 11-3 to start
the match. Hood closed to within 13-8 on a Jamie Gardner kill and a
Cardinal hitting error, but Catholic never relinquished its lead
and went on to take the second set, 25-13.
In set number three, the Blazers found themselves in an early
hole once again but clawed their way back into it. Trailing 14-9,
Hood reeled off seven consecutive points to go up 16-14 on a kill
by Leah Garland, another Cardinal attack error and an ace by Lena
Bushrod. But the Cardinals responded with a 5-0 run of their own to
retake a 19-16 edge. Hood rallied once again to knot the score at
19-19 on a Kristina Straub kill. Hood and Catholic traded points
for the next several serves before Owens clinched the set with her
fourth kill of the match.
In her final match in the blue and gray, Gardner paced the
offense with seven kills to go along with five digs. Senior Bailey
Runkles chipped in two digs and a block assist while Christienne
Burrell earned a start in the final match of her Blazer career.
Bushrod amassed 21 digs to lead the defense while Straub set up
10 Blazer kills and had eight digs.