Volleyball Falls to #3 Johns Hopkins in NCAA Tournament

By Jim Fenton

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Bridgewater State University volleyball season came to an end in the opening round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

The Bears were swept by third-ranked and host Johns Hopkins University, 3-0, on Thursday night at the Goldfarb Gymnasium.

BSU (13-10) was making its first appearance in the national tournament since Nov. 13, 2008 when it was eliminated by Tufts University, 3-0, in Medford, Mass.

Johns Hopkins defeated the Bears, 25-9, 25-9 and 25-12 to advance into the second round.

The Blue Jays (30-2) have won 20 straight matches and will play on Friday at 7 p.m. against Carnegie Mellon.

It was the 22nd time Johns Hopkins swept an opponent this season and the fifth time BSU lost by a 3-0 score.

The Bears, picked to finish fifth in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, earned a berth in the NCAAs after winning the conference tournament over top-seeded Westfield State, 3-2.

BSU reached the NCAA tourney for the 11th time dating back to the 1999 season.

Johns Hopkins dominated the net from start to finish as the Blue Jays posted a .480 hitting percentage on the stength of 39 kills and just three attacking errors. The hosts also recorded ten blocks.

Bridgewater recorded just one block and finished with more attacking errors (24) than kills (18).

The Blue Jays did not trail in either of the first two sets. The only time the Bears led in a set was at 2-1 at the start of the final set.

Johns Hopkins' lone two losses this season were to defending national champion Juniata, 3-1, and fourth-ranked MIT, 3-1.

BSU graduate student Bethany Votta (Cumberland, R.I.) had nine assists in her final match for BSU. She finishes with 1,126 in her career.

Sophomore Lilly Misay (New Bedford, Mass.) had eight digs for the Bears while sophomore Xin Ai Robinson (Kaiserslautern, Germany) added six digs and five assists.

Sophomore Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) contributed seven digs and three kills while sophomore Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.) had six digs.

BSU had four aces, two from Crane and one each from Robinson and junior Kim Gowell (Durham, N.H.).

Gowell and senior Abigail Reardon (Fairhaven, Mass.) paced the Bears on the attack with four kills apiece.

Junior Alice Yu (San Diego, Calif.) paced the Blue Jays with seven kills, a .778 hitting percentage, four assisted blocks and a pair of aces while playing two sets. 

Junior Simone Adam (Menlo Park, Calif.) also finished with seven kills for Johns Hopkins

Graduate student Kate Danaher (Hinsdale, Ill.) had 24 assists for the Blue Jays while junior Helena Swaak (McLean, Va.) added 13 assists and two aces and senior Simrin Carlsen (Edison, N.J.) had 11 digs, three assisted blocks and four kills.

Johns Hopkins jumped to a 6-1 lead in the opening set with BSU managing only a kill by Crane to make it 2-1.

After a kill by BSU freshman Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) cut the deficit to 6-2, the Blue Jays scored eight straight points for a 14-2 advantage.

They used three attack errors and two aces in the run to take control of the set.

BSU scored the next two points on kills by Gowell and Votta but the deficit soon became 17-5.

Kills by Gowell, Crane and Reardon senior pulled the Bears within 17-8, but after a kill by Sullivan made it 18-9, Johns Hopkins closed out the set with seven straight points, four on attack errors.

Sophomore Alexis Starks (Milford, Mass.) had a kill and Crane an ace as BSU pulled even at 2-2 early in the second set. But the Blue Jays went up, 13-3, scoring nine points in a row.

Johns Hopkins was ahead, 15-4, before the Bears got within 17-8 on a kill by Reardon and an ace by Robinson, but the Blue Jays scored eight of the final nine points to win the set.

BSU had its only lead of the night in the third set, getting a kill by junior Meaghan Coutu (Brookline, N.H.) and an ace by Crane for the 2-1 advantage.

Two kills by Yu helped the Blue Jays move in front, 5-2, but the Bears were within 5-4 after a service error and an attack error.

They were down by two points but Johns Hopkins scored seven straight points for a 15-6 lead.

BSU scored the next three points, including a service ace by Gowell, to make it 15-9 and it trailed, 16-10, but that was as close as the Bears would get the rest of the match.

Johns Hopkins outscored BSU, 9-2, the rest of the way with the Bears managing a pair of kills, one by Crane and the other by Welch.

Smith College will play Ithaca at 4:30 on Friday afternoon, and the winner will meet either Johns Hopkins or Carnegie Mellon in the regional final Saturday at 5 p.m.

Smith defeated Endicott College, 3-0, and Ithaca eliminated Lasell, 3-0.

Post-Match Press Conference