Purchase, NY (Oct. 19, 2016) – SUNY Maritime College narrowly topped Purchase College 3-0 Wednesday night.

The Privateers opened with a slim 25-18 victory in the first set and then would escape a 25-17 secod frame and another nail bitter in game three, 25-21.   

Maritime's Carly Lombardo paced the visitors in the opening set, recording four kills. Meanwhile, Purchase was led by Maura Gribbins (SO/Buffalo, NY) and Kelly Hayes (SO/Staten Island, NY), who both recorded two kills apiece.

In the opener, Maritime clung to a 9-6 start before opening a 12-7 margin. The visitors stretched the lead to 19-11, but the resilient Panthers closed back to 20-17 before the Privateers sealed the seven-point victory.

In the second set, Maritime coasted to a 10-3 advantage early, but feisty Purchase got back into the match, reeling off seven of the next 10 points to trail 13-10. But Maritime once again rebounded to take a 20-17 lead. The Privateers then capped the second set with five straight points. In that frame, the offense received four more kills from Lombardo and eight more assists from Erika Bailey.

For Purchase, Kaitlyn Pillig (SO/Mamaroneck, NY) had five kills in game two to lead the way.

Despite trailing 2-0 coming into the third set, Purchase was very much in the match, dropping the opening two sets by close set scores.

The Panthers raced out to a 5-1 lead in game three, but Maritime showed some resilience of its own to tie the set at 5-5. The back-and-forth contest was knotted at 9-9, but the hosts took a 10-9 lead and later a 15-13 advantage. 

However, Maritime rallied once again. They took a 22-19 lead over the next 13 points. Leading by three, the visitors won four of the next six points.

Third-set leaders included Maritime's Lombardo (three kills), Shannon Brady (two kills), Rachel Rothstein (two kills) and Bailey (five assists), and Purchase's Pillig (four kills, three assists) and Gribbins (three kills, three assists).

For the match, Lombardo starred for Maritime, finishing with a match-high 11 kills. Bailey added 21 assists, also a match high. The defense was led by Brady and her six digs.

Pillig totaled 10 kills, a team best, for Purchase. Gribbins was the leader in assists (10) and digs (12) for the Panthers.