Campus News

October 13th, 2026

CSM escapes with 5-set win over Lady Lakers

GC competitive throughout tri-match that includes FCC loss

McHenry, MD – Garrett College lost Saturday’s five-set women’s volleyball match to visiting College of Southern Maryland, but the Lady Lakers certainly put up an impressive fight.

GC fought off five match points in the fourth set, finishing with a 7-2 run that forced a fifth and deciding set. CSM then built a 6-1 lead in Set 5, but the Lady Lakers pulled within 8-6 on a Mia Barrios hit to play themselves back into the match.

Unfortunately for Garrett, that was where the comeback ended. Middle blocker Jazari Jackson served a pair of aces and outside hitter Sofia Wind finished off the match with consecutive kills as the Hawks pulled out a 25-19, 17-25, 25-12, 26-28, 15-9 win.

“There were moments in that match where we played the best we’ve played all year,” said GC head coach Beth Campbell. “The problem was consistency and serving – which is unusual since serving has been a strong point all year.”

Southern Maryland had a 24-21, fourth-set lead before the Lady Lakers scored three straight points to create a 24-24 tie. A two-hit violation on GC gave the Hawks another match point, but Wind netted a serve attempt to make it 25-25.

GC’s Kyla Gilbert (11 kills, 25 digs, five assists, two aces) then netted a serve to give CSM another match point at 26-25. Kennedi Jones seemingly won the match for CSM with a powerful hit, but a diving Gilbert managed to get one hand on the ball. April Etheridge then ran down the ball in the corner of the gym to keep the ball in play. A kill by Barrios (12 kills) ended the point and drew GC even at 26-26.

A long hit by Mikel Poole gave GC its first set point – and the Lady Lakers didn’t waste the opportunity. Etheridge’s point-scoring stuff of a Jackson hit secured the fourth-set victory.

CSM started fast in Set 5 as Poole connected for consecutive aces to open the set and had a kill that gave the Hawks a 6-1 lead. GC eventually pulled within 8-6 on a Barrios dink, but Jackson had consecutive aces in a 4-0 run that gave CSM a 12-6 advantage.

Garrett fought off its sixth match point when Isabella Keneally (16 digs) drilled an ace that pulled the Lady Lakers within 13-9. CSM, however, clinched the win on Wind’s back-to-back kills.

“It was a great match,” said Campbell. “I told the girls that’s the type of match that makes you better.”

GC’s Teyla Holloway-Powers finished with 24 assists and 13 digs. Olivia Bartlett had seven kills in a strong effort for the Lady Lakers.

Frederick 3, GC 0

Gilbert had 10 kills, 11 digs, and two aces while Powers contributed 17 assists and nine digs in the 25-10, 25-18, 25-21 loss to Frederick. The Lady Lakers were highly competitive in the final two sets – trailing just 20-18 in Set 2 and 21-20 in Set 3 – before Frederick pulled away.

“Frederick took us a little bit off guard,” said Campbell. “We hadn’t seen a block that was that good all season. Every time you hit the ball, there were two blockers. It took us a little while to figure out where the space was.”

GC 3, ACM 1

McHenry, MD – Kyla Gilbert (seven aces, 14 digs) and Mia Barrios each registered 12 kills in last Tuesday’s win over the rival Trojans.

Teyla Holloway-Powers had 28 assists while Serenity Parker contributed 12 digs and three aces as the Lady Lakers posted a 25-19, 17-25, 25-20, 25-22 victory. Kaitlyn Bender had eight digs for GC, which erased a 10-1 deficit in the match-clinching fourth set.