RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Vincent women's volleyball team split a pair of Skyline matches at the Peter J. Sharp Center on Sunday afternoon. The Dolphins defeated the Bears of St. Joseph's College – Brooklyn in straight sets, but then fell to the Sage Gators, 3-1. The loss to Sage was just the first conference loss of the year for Mount Saint Vincent.

In the victory against the Bears (7-8, 1-5 Skyline), set scores were 25-17, 25-19, and 25-18. In the first set, the Dolphins trailed the Bears, 12-11, but freshman outside hitter Tara Maloney slammed home three kills to spark 4-0 run, catapulting the home team to a 15-11 advantage. Later in the set, Maloney produced three kills in a row to extend CMSV's lead to 19-13. With Mount Saint Vincent earning a set-point opportunity, the Williston Park resident slammed home another kill to clinch the opening stanza, 25-17.

In the second set, Mount Saint Vincent scored 11 of the first 14 points to take a commanding lead. Later in the game, freshman middle blocker Jacqui Johnston recorded a kill to spark a 4-0 run by the home team, increasing its lead to 16-7. She added another kill to clinch the second stanza for the Dolphins, putting the Bears on the brink.

In the third game, CMSV scored 7 unanswered points to take a commanding 17-7 advantage. That would be too much for St. Joseph's to overcome, as Mount Saint Vincent clinched the sweep.

For the match, Maloney led the attack with 17 kills, and added 11 digs on defense for the double-double. Johnston added six kills and two blocks, while junior setter Nicole Henderson had a match-high 26 assists. Sophomore defensive specialist Chrissy Swell anchored the defense with a match-high 19 digs, while classmate Lesley Peralta had 14 digs of her own to neutralize the Bears' attack.

In the match against Sage (12-14, 5-1 Skyline), set scores were 28-26, 19-25, 25-13, and 27-25. Maloney lead all attackers with a career-high 23 kills, and added 10 more digs for her second double-double of the day.

In the first set, the Dolphins (10-14, 6-1 Skyline) had the lead 24-22. Sage rallied for two straight points to tie the game up. Mount Saint Vincent had two more set-point opportunities but Sage would not go down. Trailing 26-25, the Gators scored three consecutive points to take the first set, 28-26.

Mount Saint Vincent had the lead for the majority of the second game, and was able to pull away towards the end of the stanza, thanks to a 4-0 run to extend the home team's lead to 23-16. Maloney produced back-to-back kills during the rally, while freshman outside hitter Nicole Schweit's kill capped it off. CMSV went on to win the set, 25-19, to even the match, 1-1.

Sage cruised to a win in the third set, 25-13. The Dolphins got off to a good start in the fourth stanza, as sophomore defensive specialist Patsy Sewell scored a service ace to put the home team up, 11-5. The Gators turned momentum back into their favor by scoring four unanswered points to narrow the Dolphins' lead to two. Maloney would once again spark the Dolphins by slamming home three straight kills to put her team in front, 19-16. Sage shifted momentum by scoring seven of the next eight points to go up 22-20. A service ace by Patsy Sewell capped off a 3-0 run and catapulted CMSV to a 23-22 advantage. Maloney produced two more kills to hand Mount Saint Vincent two set-point opportunities. Sage would counter each time, including a 3-0 run to end the set and clinch the victory for the visiting team, 27-25.

For the match, Chrissy Sewell and Patsy Sewell had 18 and 12 digs respectively. Henderson tied a match-high with 31 assists and added two aces. Peralta scored four service aces of her own, while Johnston slammed home six kills and had one solo block.

Mount Saint Vincent will be back in action on Thursday, for a non-conference match at the College of New Rochelle, beginning at 7:00 p.m.