FREDERICK, Md.—The Hood College women's volleyball team (3-3, 0-2 Commonwealth) defeated Notre Dame (Md.) (3-4) in three sets to pull its record back to .500. It was only the sixth time in 37 chances that the Blazers have defeated the Gators and the second consecutive season that it was by straight sets.

The blue-and-grey really did a good job of keeping each game under its control and influence. The Blazers won the first set 25-19 and scored four straight points to break the score open at the end of the set. The second and third sets did not get much better for the Gators as Hood won each of those sets 25-17 and 25-14 respectively.

Hood was led by its two middle hitters in sophomore Ashley Park-Brouse and freshman Rebecca Rieser. Neither player had a hitting error in the game, which is very impressive and a good winning formula by the middle hitter tandem. Both players also had six kills apiece and with Rieser's .545 hitting percentage and Park-Brouse's hitting percentage of .462 made life very difficult for Notre Dame (Md.).

Senior Brittany Lethbridge and junior Amy Hagerdon led the Blazers in kills with seven each, while senior Alyssa Eshleman had a fantastic game as she compiled 21 assists and eight digs. Junior Kaitlyn Hays led the team in digs with 10.

Hood doubled up Notre Dame (Md.) in kills with a count of 32-16 and assists at 26-13. The teams each had 39 digs and Hood had 11 serving aces to Notre Dame's six.

The victory for Hood brought the squad some momentum going into its tri-match this weekend at BB&T Arena. The tri-match will feature the Blazers, Penn State-Mont Alto, and Michigan-Dearborn. The matches will start at 9 a.m., continue at 11 a.m., and conclude at 1 p.m.