Gophers Drop Landmark Matches to Mariners, Royals

KINGS POINT, N.Y. — Goucher dropped a four-set match to Scranton this afternoon after the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy rallied to knock off the Gophers in five sets earlier in the day.

Set scores in the first of the two Landmark Conference matches were 25-19, 21-25, 14-25, 25-20, 15-8.

Early on in the first set, Michelle Tweedie (Accra, Ghana/Lincoln Community School) ripped two straight kills to erase a one-point deficit and put her team up 5-4. A kill by Kelly Budge (Harrington Park, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan) provided the Gophers with a 13-11 advantage, but the Mariners answered with an 8-0 run.

Tweedie continued with the kills in the second set, scoring two of the first three Goucher points. The Gophers' biggest lead was 23-17, achieved by a service ace by Paige Smith (Beltsville, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti). A kill by Hannah Kuehl (Plymouth, N.H./Plymouth Regional) and an ace by Corinne Kahler (York, Pa./York Country Day) gave Goucher its final two points to win the set.

The third set was all Goucher. With an ace by Malia Bruce (Brooklyn, N.Y./Essex Street Academy) extending the lead to four, the Gophers went on a 10-2 run to blow out the Mariners (9-4, 1-1 Landmark).

Merchant Marine took advantage of 16 attack errors by the Gophers to win the final two sets.

Tweedie finished the match with 20 kills. Erika DiPasquale (Paramus, N.J./Paramus) recorded four aces for the Gophers.

In the second match, Scranton won the first two sets, but Goucher rallied in the third jumping out to an early 5-1 advantage. Midway through, a kill by Budge led to a 6-1 run in favor of the Gophers for a 22-13 lead.

The Royals (15-5, 3-0 Landmark) never trailed in the fourth set and completed their 25-20, 25-18, 19-25, 25-15 victory.

Goucher's next match is against Shenandoah on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Decker Sports & Recreation Center.