BOSTON, Mass. – Maine Maritime Academy volleyball fell to Emmanuel College 3-2 (26-24, 25-21, 17-25, 21-25, 15-12) on Friday night, in a tightly contested non-conference match.

The Mariners opened things in the first set after a kill by freshman Sydney Adams (Trumbull, Conn.) and a block by Gillian O'Neal (Burbank, Calif.) and freshman Maryellyn Musselman (West Friendship, Md.) made it 12-6 and forced Emmanuel to call a timeout. The Saints put together five-straight points to take a 17-16 lead.

Kills by Adams and sophomore Tess Clark (Spring, Texas), combined with two Emmanuel errors, gave the Mariners a set point at 24-23, but the Saints responded to take the set with three-straight points.

In the second set, the Mariners opened up a slight lead at 9-5 after an O'Neal kill. The Saints responded with nine of the next 14 points and evened the set at 14 all.

The Mariners scored four of six points, including two Clark kills, and looked to take control of the set with a 18-16 lead.

Coming out of a timeout trailing 18-17, Emmanuel's Kaitlyn Atkinson recorded five kills in a span of nine points to push the Saints to a 23-21 lead. Emmanuel used a kill by Samantha DeMarco and a bad set by the Mariners to take the second set, 25-21.

Maine Maritime went wire-to-wire in the third set, beginning and ending the set with kills by Musselman.

The Mariners refused to go down easily, starting the third set ahead 8-4. The Saints scored three-consecutive points, but momentum continued to shift as the Mariners regained a four-point edge at 12-8, prompting an Emmanuel timeout.

After the Mariners opened up a 14-9 lead, the Saints used three errors and a Marissa Cataldo kill to narrow the lead to one. That was as close as the hosts got, as Adams' ace triggered a strong 11-4 run that eventually buried the Saints and kept the visitors in the match.

At the finish, Musselman and freshman Maggie MacMahon (Boise, Idaho) teamed up for a block to set up set point, and then Musselman ended a long rally with a set-ending kill.

The fourth set again featured the Mariners building an early lead, only to have Emmanuel battle back to take a 9-8 lead after a Cassie Chruscielski kill.

The squads traded points until the 14-14 mark when freshman Hannah Butland (Cumberland, Maine) served up an ace to put the Mariners ahead. Two EC attack errors made the Mariners' lead three and caused the Saints to call a timeout.

The Saints took advantage of the break, tallying three straight points and tying the set at 17. But, after a Katharine Journeay service error, the Mariners closed out the set on an 8-4 run, capped off by another kill by Adams.

Shelow picked up three kills in a span of seven points and EC grabbed a 6-2 lead in the fifth set, pushing Maine Maritime to use a timeout.

The timeout turned out to be a smart move, as the Mariners scored four in a row and eight of ten points to go up 10-8.

Five points later, after another kill by Shelow, the teams found themselves tied at 12 in the deciding set. The Saints scored the next three points to take the set and the match.

O'Neal led the Mariners with a double-double of 16 kills and 14 digs, while also tallying three aces and two blocks. Adams added another well-rounded performance with 13 assists, 11 digs, eight kills, two aces and a block while Melissa Spaulding (Fairbanks, Alaska) tallied a team-high 21 assists, 10 digs, two kills and an ace. Maria Perez (San Juan, Puerto Rico) led the team with 23 digs, also adding three assists and an ace.

Sarah Schemerhorn led all players with 24 digs, and Cassie Chruscielski and Carly Church combined for 41 assists. Kaitlyn Atkinson led the Saints with 15 kills, while teammate Mary Shelow added 13 kills and Marissa Cataldo added 11 kills.

The Mariners fall to 4-3 on the season and will return to action tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., against Massachusetts Maritime in the Seventh Annual Maritime Classic.