Campus News

October 29th, 2026

Garrett College sweeps into region quarters

Lady Lakers dominate ACM; next up is top-seeded Pot State

McHenry, MD – Near. Total. Domination.

That pretty much sums up eighth-seeded Garrett College’s three-set sweep of ninth-seeded Allegany College of Maryland in Tuesday night’s NJCAA Division II Region 20 play-in. GC blew through the first two sets and then finished the match on a 10-4 scoring binge to secure a 25-11, 25-13, 25-23 win over the Trojans (8-9).

“They came out ready to play even more than I realized,” observed first-year head coach Beth Campbell, whose Lady Lakers improved to 10-7. “We’ve had some rough practices and the girls really came together. They basically said, ‘We’re not going to let anything keep us from doing what we set out to do.’ ”

The Lady Lakers will take on top-seeded WVU Potomac State College (17-1) at 10 a.m. Saturday in the first of the day’s four regional quarterfinals at Cecil College.

“We’re excited to play Potomac State,” said Campbell, whose squad dropped a 25-20, 25-15, 25-14 decision to the Catamounts in the regular season. “That was our first match of the year with a brand-new coach and eight new players. We’re kind of excited to see where we’ve come this year.”

GC reached the region quarterfinals for the second time in three years thanks to the impressive win over ACM. Kyla Gilbert – who had match-highs in kills (nine) and digs (12) – said the Lady Lakers had some extra motivation for the match.

“We wanted to win it for our two teammates out with injuries,” said Gilbert, referencing injured freshmen Isabella Keneally and Shayla Thomas. “We just pushed as a team to get it for them.”

The Trojans, who have a stable of impressive hitters, couldn’t get their offense going in the first two sets. ACM had 11 attempted kills go long in the first two sets, including eight in the opener.

“They seemed like they were a little nervous – which we capitalized on a lot,” said Campbell. “They loosened up about the middle of the second set, and that’s when we started to have some problems.”

“They weren’t as aggressive as they were last time,” added Gilbert, referring to GC’s taut, four-set win over the Trojans in the regular season.

Lady Laker reserve Bre Boyer served nine straight points to help the hosts build a 12-2 cushion in the opening set. Garrett took control of the second set with a 10-3 run – featuring two Gilbert kills along with a kill and a service ace from Mia Barrios (eight kills, 10 digs) – that gave the Lady Lakers a 20-8 cushion.

After two laser-focused sets, the Lady Lakers seemed to take their foot off the gas in the third set as ACM built a 19-15 lead.

“I think we were giggling around a little too much,” said Gilbert of how her team started the third set.

“It’s real hard when you win the first two sets by that much to stay focused,” said Campbell. “We totally lost focus, but we hung around long enough to get it close until we got our focus back. Then we played our brand of volleyball at the end.”

Indeed they did. Gilbert recorded three kills and Olivia Bartlett had an impressive middle kill during the set-ending, 10-3 run.

ACM took a 23-22 lead on Chloe DeBlock’s kill, but Trojan Carly Sowers netted a serve to create a 23-23 tie. Gilbert and Barrios then put down consecutive kills to close out the match.

Teyla Holloway-Powers had a match-high 16 assists while Bartlett added four kills for GC. Lady Laker Madison Sypolt contributed three kills.

The winner of Saturday’s Garrett-WVU Potomac State College quarterfinal will play in Sunday’s 10 a.m. semifinal. They will take on the winner of Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Frederick Community College (14-4) and fifth-seeded Howard Community College (15-5).

Second-seeded host Cecil College (20-3) plays seventh-seeded College of Southern Maryland (10-6) in Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. quarterfinal, and third-seeded Montgomery College (12-11) plays sixth-seeded Hagerstown Community College (11-5) in Saturday’s 3 p.m. quarterfinal in the other half of the bracket. Those winners meet in Sunday’s second semifinal at 12:30 p.m.

The finals are scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.