Riverdale, NY - After a dominating performance on Tuesday night in the first round of the Skyline Conference playoffs, the Dolphins are now getting ready to travel to Long Island tonight to take on the United States Merchant Marine Academy. This will be third time in three years that the two squads match up in the playoffs, splitting the previous two contests. The Dolphins, who fell to the Mariners in the 2017 championship, would come back and emerge victorious a year ago in the semi finals. CMSV did lose their regular season matchup against USMMA three sets to one earlier this season but will look to avenge the loss on Thursday night.
 
In the first round of the playoffs, CMSV played some very impressive volleyball, getting contributions from every player who stepped on the court. Six different players registered a kill for the Dolphins on Tuesday night. Setter Madison Gale, who has been playing her best volleyball of late, spread the ball very well against the Knights and all of her hitters delivered when their number was called. The Dolphins will be looking to keep this same energy heading into the biggest match of the season on Thursday night.
 
"Small battle but we still have a war to win," are the words last year's Player of the Year Tara Maloney preached to her team after the win Tuesday night. The Dolphins have been in this exact situation before and the team knows how important it is to stay level headed and to continue to work hard before their matchup with the Mariners. Fans will not want to miss out on this one, as the semi-final matchup one year ago between the teams was an instant five set classic. Expect the same type of battle on Thursday with each team fighting to play another day and keep their season's alive.
 
If you cannot make the game you can follow along here to live stats and live stream.

Live Stats: https://www.usmmasports.com/sports/wvball/2019-20/boxscores/20191107_bv68.xml
Live Stream: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/usmma/