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.