Sea Gulls right at home in SU Invitational
SALISBURY, Md. – There is no place like home for the Salisbury University volleyball team who made their 2007 debut at the Maggs Center on Friday evening in grand fashion with back-to-back wins in Day One of the SU Invitational.

The Sea Gulls (11-5) finally defeated in-state rival Johns Hopkins University 3-1 after falling to the Blue Jays twice earlier in the season. SU followed that come-from-behind win with a 3-0 shutout of Gettysburg College in the nightcap.

Junior Stacey Krebs and sophomore Nicole Massarelli had 15 kills apiece against the Blue Jays (12-3). Krebs added 11 digs in the win. JHU won the first set 30-21. The Sea Gulls battled back and won the second and third set by the same 31-29 score. With the momentum of their side the Gulls finished out the Blue Jays in the fourth set with a 30-28 victory. Sophomore Rachel Downes had 11 kills, 21 digs and three service aces in the win. Junior Jaime Marzocchi made 44 assists and sophomore Gabby Long and freshman Melissa Stansbury had 24 digs each.

The second match went quicker for the Gulls but the Bullets (9-4) were just as tough. SU won the first two sets 32-30 and broke away from Gettysburg in the third set as the Gulls rallied to win 30-23. Krebs led all SU hitters with 18 kills as Massarelli and Downes recorded 13 kills each. Marzocchi had 48 assists and Long made 18 digs in the win.

Salisbury returns to the court Saturday to face New Jersey City and Richard Stockton at Noon and 2 p.m., respectively, at the Maggs Center.

SU Invitational Notes: NJCU senior Lizzelle Cintron became only the fourth Division III women’s volleyball player ever to record 2,500 career kills. Cintron reached the mark in the first set against Richard Stockton in the Gothic Knights’ second match of the evening. Cintron had 27 kills in the five-set loss to Johns Hopkins in the first match…The score of the JHU-NJCU match was 20-30, 30-19, 30-19, 30-32, 16-14…Gettysburg won its first match of the night with a 3-0 sweep of Richard Stockton, 30-23, 30-21, 30-16…NJCU won the last match of the night in another five-set performance this time the Gothic Knights ended up on the top with a 22-30, 30-24, 20-30, 30-17, 15-7 victory.