St. Mary’s City, Md. — The St. Mary’s College of Maryland women’s volleyball team earned its first berth in the United East Conference championship match Tuesday with a 3-0 sweep of Lancaster Bible College at the Michael P. O’Brien Athletics and Recreation Center.
The No. 2-seeded Seahawks improved to 16-14 overall and 9-2 in conference play by holding the No. 3 Chargers to a .136 hitting percentage while posting their own mark of .189. The victory came in sets of 25-22, 25-20 and 26-24 before a lively home crowd that filled the arena on the college’s waterfront campus.
Sanaa Porter paced St. Mary’s with 14 kills on a .346 hitting percentage, providing the firepower needed in clutch moments. Maya Mauro added 13 kills, one ace and seven digs, while Julia Bobrowski contributed eight kills, two aces and four blocks. The balanced scoring extended to Hope Parrish with six kills and Faith Shockley with three kills and two blocks.
Setters Camilla Galeano and Arielle Lubeck dished out 42 combined assists and 10 digs to keep the offense flowing. Stella Marrero led the defensive effort with 17 digs, and Vlada Costenco chipped in five aces from the service line. The Seahawks tallied nine aces and eight blocks as a unit, turning potential rallies into momentum shifts.
The opening set stayed tight until St. Mary’s pulled ahead late with a 6-2 run capped by Porter’s kill at 25-22. In the second, the Seahawks built a 15-10 edge and never trailed, closing on a 4-1 spurt highlighted by Mauro’s ace. Lancaster Bible mounted its strongest push in the third, grabbing a 21-19 lead on a string of kills and errors. St. Mary’s responded with back-to-back kills from Porter and Mauro to tie it, then Bobrowski’s block at the net clinched the 26-24 finish.
This semifinal triumph marks a program milestone for the Seahawks, who joined the United East Conference in 2020 after years in the Capital Athletic Conference. Prior to this postseason, St. Mary’s had reached conference semifinals but never the final, according to team records. The run began with a 3-0 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Penn State Abington on Nov. 8, where the Seahawks limited the Nittany Lions to 27 kills while recording 42 of their own.
St. Mary’s enters the title match on a five-match winning streak, including regular-season sweeps of Valley Forge Christian College on Oct. 1 and Penn State Abington on Oct. 10. The season featured standout performances, such as Maya Mauro’s 31 kills across two nonconference sweeps on Sept. 13 against Eastern Mennonite and Regent universities. Earlier road tests built resilience, including a 3-1 victory at Southern Virginia on Sept. 5 that lifted the team to 2-1 early on.
The Seahawks’ path reflects steady improvement under coach Mike Shayka, who took over in 2022. The program, one of 19 varsity sports at Maryland’s public honors college, draws from a student body of about 1,500 on the 800-acre campus overlooking the St. Mary’s River. Volleyball matches often draw community support from nearby Leonardtown and Lexington Park, where fans appreciate the team’s blend of student-athletes pursuing rigorous academics alongside Division III competition.
In the United East, a 17-school conference spanning Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., the championship emphasizes parity among smaller institutions. The tournament format seeds the top 10 regular-season teams into a single-elimination bracket starting Nov. 5, with higher seeds hosting early rounds. St. Mary’s earned its No. 2 seed with a second-place regular-season finish, trailing only the opponent in the final.
Game Highlights
The semifinal showcased St. Mary’s defensive prowess, as the team converted 15 Charger errors into points while committing 22 of its own. Lancaster Bible managed 31 kills but struggled against the Seahawks’ net play, recording just three blocks. Costenco’s five aces disrupted serves, forcing three Charger service errors in the second set alone.
Porter’s efficiency stood out in a match where St. Mary’s attempted 132 attacks to Lancaster Bible’s 118. Her .346 percentage came on 14 kills with only two errors, building on a strong quarterfinal where she notched 12 kills against Abington. Mauro, a junior outside hitter, has emerged as a dual-threat this fall, averaging 10.5 kills per match in conference play.
Bobrowski’s four blocks, including the match-sealing touch, highlighted the middle’s role in controlling the front line. The 5-foot-10 senior from Pennsylvania anchored a rotation that limited Lancaster Bible to single-digit kill runs in each set.
Path to the Final
St. Mary’s now prepares for No. 1 Penn State Harrisburg on Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. in Middletown, Pennsylvania. The Lions (22-5, 11-0 United East) clinched their semifinal spot with a 3-0 win over No. 5 Cairn University on Tuesday, extending a perfect conference record. Harrisburg, hosting the final as the top seed, features a high-powered attack led by outside hitter Emily Wentzel, who averages 12.8 kills per set this postseason.
The Lions swept No. 8 Cedar Crest 3-0 in the quarterfinals on Nov. 8, holding opponents to a .098 hitting percentage across three matches. St. Mary’s holds a 2-1 all-time edge over Harrisburg, including a 3-2 regular-season win on Oct. 25 that featured 15 ties and 10 lead changes in the deciding set.
For the Seahawks, a title would cap a turnaround from a 7-10 midseason mark, secured through wins like a 3-1 decision over Albright on Oct. 6 where Mauro tallied 18 kills. The team also split a home tri-match on Sept. 20, defeating Marymount 3-1 before falling to Penn State Berks.
The winner earns the United East’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament, opening Nov. 20. St. Mary’s last NCAA appearance came in 2019, a 3-0 loss to Juniata in the first round.
