The Hopkins volleyball team opened Centennial Conference play against Washington College on Saturday afternoon in Chestertown, MD. The Blue Jays returned home with an 8-3 overall record alongside a three-game win-streak.
Washington, who entered the game a respectable 6-3 but finished 2-8 in the Centennial a year ago, was no match for the Lady Jays. Hopkins displayed a dominant 3-0 performance, winning by scores of 25-14, 25-10 and 25-19.
With Hopkins leading 7-6 early in the first set, the match seemed to be either team's for the taking.
As though feeling the pressure, the Blue Jays instantly went on a five-point scoring run, opening up the lead to 12-6. From that point on Hopkins did not look back, expanding their lead to 21-10 via impressive play from senior Melissa Cole and freshmen Meagan Donohoe and Mariel Metalios.
The Blue Jays closed out the first set 25-14 and looked to take the same level of intensity into the second set.
The Lady Jays refused to allow themselves to become complacent, opening the second set with a bang. Before Washington knew what had hit them, Donohoe, the Centennial Conference's player of the week and The News-Letter's Athlete of the Week, served eight consecutive points to create a 12-2 Hopkins advantage.
The solid play of the young Jays continued, as Metalios followed Donohoe's performance by serving up a five-point run of her own. The Blue Jays stormed to a thunderous 25-10 victory in the second set.
The closest of the three sets was the third, when the trailing Shorewomen staved off five consecutive match-points to bring their deficit to 24-19. Their comeback would be short-lived, however, as an attack error would hand the game to Hopkins.
The Blue Jays completed the three-set sweep, tallying a win in their first appearance against Centennial Conference competition.
The real story of the day was the outstanding play from the Blue Jay freshman.
Donohoe led all players with 13 kills, the second highest by a Blue Jay this season. Metalios added 25 assists to help the Blue Jays blow out Washington, and another freshman, Anne Cohen, added a match high 14 digs to the Hopkins scoring attack.
As for the upper classmen, senior outside hitter Melissa Cole totaled 11 kills of her own, moving just one kill shy of a 1000 kill season through just 11 games played. Junior setter Becky Paynter added 11 assists to the mix.
The Blue Jays were scheduled to play a second match on the day, but the game was cancelled. Hopkins will resume play on Thursday in Washington D.C. to take on Gallaudet.
The Lady Jays will look to improve on their impressive season before matching up with conference rival Muhlenberg on Saturday.
