CASTINE, Maine — The Maine Maritime Academy volleyball team picked up two wins Saturday, beating SUNY Delhi 3-0 in North Atlantic Conference play before edging St. Norbert College 3-2 in a five-set back-and-forth battle.

Maine Maritime (10-5, 2-0 NAC) opened the tri-match with a 3-0 win over SUNY Delhi (3-17, 2-1 NAC), taking the first set 25-15 before rolling to a 25-6 win in the second, backed by a .526 hitting percentage. The Mariners held on for a 25-18 win in the final set, led by senior Ila Smith, who finished with 12 kills.

Junior Ally Hadley added nine kills, and senior Hunnie Zuber-Stephens posted six. Zuber-Stephens also finished with a match-high four aces, while Hadley added three. Smith recorded a game-high three blocks, Zuber-Stephens tallied 31 assists, and sophomore Hannah Tate led the team with 10 digs, followed by Hadley with nine.

In the tri-match finale, Maine Maritime and St. Norbert (15-4) battled back and forth over five sets. In the opening set, MMA led 10-7 early, but St. Norbert pulled ahead 17-16 late.
Deadlocked 21-21, the Mariners benefited from two Green Knights errors and a kill from junior Sydney Williams to take a 24-21 edge. SNC added a late point, but another Williams kill gave Maine Maritime a 25-22 opening-set win.

The second set saw both teams trading leads, with the Green Knights ahead 17-13 before MMA closed to 18-17. SNC finished on a 7-3 run to take the set 25-20, evening the match 1-1.

The third set also featured a back-and-forth battle. With MMA leading 21-20 late, a Smith kill, two Green Knights attack errors, and an ace by Hadley gave the Mariners a hard-fought 25-21 win.

St. Norbert dominated the fourth set, opening a 22-7 lead and taking the set 25-11 to force a deciding fifth set.

In the final set, St. Norbert opened a 6-1 advantage, but the Mariners pulled within 6-3 on kills by senior Sophia Biggie and Williams. Trailing 8-4 at the midway switch, the Mariners rallied with a 6-1 run to lead 10-9. Both teams traded points down the stretch, and with the score tied 15-15, an SNC attack error and a game-winning kill by Hadley secured a 17-15 victory for the Mariners.

Williams recorded a career-high 25 kills on 66 attempts for a .227 attack percentage. Smith and Hadley each finished with 12 kills, while Smith posted a .429 hitting percentage. Zuber-Stephens set a career-high 45 assists, and Smith and Biggie each added four blocks, with junior Bre Kerr contributing three. Hadley also finished with a team-high 17 digs, recording a 12-kill, 17-dig double-double. Tate added 12 digs, and freshman Alya Altman collected a career-high 11.

The Mariners return to action Sunday for another tri-match against SUNY Cobleskill at 11 a.m., followed by a second matchup against St. Norbert at 4 p.m.