United States Merchant Marine Academy

KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Oct. 6, 2026) – The USMMA women's volleyball team opened this year's annual Tomb Trophy competition with a 3-0 Skyline Conference victory over rival SUNY Maritime on Tuesday night at the Liebertz Gymnasium. After grinding out a 25-21 win in a tight opening set, the Mariners pulled away for 25-13 and 25-10 victories to complete the sweep. USMMA improved to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in Skyline play, while Maritime fell to 3-12 (1-2 Skyline).
 
Match File

• Box Score 

Junior Sydney Douglas (Herndon, Va.) led all players with 15 kills while committing just one attack error on 31 swings for a .452 hitting percentage. Freshman Sophie Phillips (Huffman, Texas) added 10 kills and hit .600 on 15 attempts, while junior Jenny Dyke (Grand Rapids, Mich.) finished with six kills and a .556 percentage. The Mariners totaled 42 kills and hit .348 as a team.
 
Freshman Miranda Zeng (Cupertino, Calif.) handed out a match-high 32 assists and added two aces, while Douglas served a match-best five aces and freshman Candy Saz-Price (Cabot, Ark.) added three. Senior Alexa Tipps (Palmdale, Calif.) led the defensive effort with a match-high 16 digs, while Douglas added six and Zeng collected five. USMMA finished with 13 service aces and 44 digs.
 
The opening set was back-and-forth throughout, with neither team able to create much separation early. Maritime held leads of 12-10 and 14-12 before the Mariners responded with four straight points, including three Dyke kills and a Douglas ace, to move ahead 16-14. The Privateers remained within one at 18-17, but USMMA gradually created some breathing room, and sophomore Carly Soboloski (Peoria, Ariz.) delivered the set-clinching kill for the 25-21 win.
 
USMMA settled in during the second set, turning a 3-3 tie into a 9-4 advantage behind four Phillips kills during the stretch. The Mariners later extended the lead to 16-8 and then used a late six-point surge to pull away, with Saz-Price serving an ace and Douglas adding a kill during the run. Zeng eventually closed out the 25-13 victory with a kill to put USMMA ahead 2-0 in the match.
 
The Mariners carried that momentum into the third, jumping ahead 8-2 behind three early Douglas kills and back-to-back Douglas aces. USMMA later stretched the lead to 14-5 and used another four-point run to make it 20-8. The Mariners did not commit an attack error in the set, hitting .526 with 10 kills on 19 swings before Lanae DuBose finished off the sweep with a service ace.
 
For Maritime, Laci Werner led the Privateers with seven kills, while Mikaela Thiel handed out 10 assists. Joan Anastasiades finished with a team-high 14 digs, while Ashley Pavarini added seven digs and two service aces. The Mariners held Maritime to 16 kills and a .039 hitting percentage for the match.
 
KP returns to action at home on Friday night, Oct. 9, when they welcome four-time reigning Skyline Conference Champion Manhattanville to the Liebertz Gymnasium. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
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