Sea Gulls fly high on Senior Night with 3-1 victory
SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury University volleyball team ended its home regular season schedule with a 3-1 victory Wednesday evening over Capital Athletic Conference opponent University of Mary Washington in the Maggs Center. Salisbury is now 11-2 at Maggs and the 30-18, 30-22, 24-30, 31-29 victory improved the Sea Gulls’ CAC record to 7-1.

SU is tied with Gallaudet University for the top spot in the CAC but due to the tiebreaker, which the Bison own over the Gulls, SU will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming CAC tournament.

Salisbury (24-9) led 2-1 and appeared in control of the match as the maroon and gold held a 29-26 advantage over the Eagles in the decisive fourth set. UMW (19-10, 4-4 CAC) ran off three consecutive points to even the score at 29. UMW gave away the final two points on a service error and miss hit on a set as SU won 31-29.

Salisbury honored its lone senior Jessica Powell on Senior Night prior to the start of the match. Powell got the start and finished with four digs and one kill. Powell was a member of the last SU CAC championship team in 2004 where the Sea Gulls also earned a NCAA tournament appearance.

The maroon and gold jumped out to an early 9-3 lead in set one as they never trailed en route to the 30-18 victory. In the second set, SU dominated with a 30-22 win to go up 2-0 on the Eagles. UMW clawed its way back into the match in the third set. The Eagles went up 10-3 and later closed out the Gulls with a 24-30 win.

Juniors Jaime Marzocchi (41 assists, 10 digs, three kills) and Stacey Krebs (15 kills, 12 digs, two service aces) led the way for SU. Sophomores Rachel Downes (13 digs, 10 kills, five service aces), Nicole Massarelli (12 kills, five digs, four solo blocks) and Gabby Long (22 digs) all honed their skills in preparation for the postseason.  

The Sea Gulls will close out their regular-season schedule on Saturday, October 27, with two matches on the road against Virginia Wesleyan College and Christopher Newport University. Salisbury will then turn its attention to the CAC tournament where the Sea Gulls will host a quarterfinal match and with a victory host a semifinal match. The official CAC tournament pairings will be announced later this week.