ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College women's volleyball team secured two victories to finish off the 2018 season Saturday afternoon, as the Raptors swept Maritime College, before outlasting John Jay College, 3-1, to conclude the day.

Set scores against Maritime were 25-18, 25-17, 25-19. 

To open game one, the two squads traded points back and forth. It wasn't until the score was tied at 14, that the Raptors started to pull away. From there, the hosts used a 9-1 run to blow the game open late, before eventually winning the opening set, 25-18.

The first set trend of tight action early, followed by a Bard run late continued into the later stages of the match. After trading jabs to begin the second frame, the Raptors, down 12-9, proceeded to score 16 of the final 21 points to take the set, 25-17. In the third frame, the hosts scored 10 of the final 14 points to win the set, 25-19, and secure the straight sets sweep over Maritime.

The Raptors finished with 37 kills in the win, despite not having their best hitting of the season. Aces helped to sooth the hitting woes though, as Bard collected 12 aces to Maritime's zero.

Maracela Talamantes led Bard in the game one win with 11 kills and four aces. Meanwhile, Jewel Smith added 31 assists and Emily Anastasi tallied 16 digs for the hosts. 

For the Privateers, Abigail Steele (Crossville, TN) finished with five kills and 12 digs.

In the second match of the afternoon, the Raptors again prevailed, this time beating John Jay College in four sets. Set scores for that contest were 25-18, 25-23, 17-25 and 30-28. 

After a relatively easy opening set win against the Bloodhounds of John Jay, the Raptors faced their first true test of the day in set two. Much like the Maritime contest beforehand, Bard and John Jay went back and forth. Every time one squad scored a few points, the other answered right back with a scoring streak of its own. 

The Raptors were finally able to break that trend late in the frame, as the hosts trailed 22-20. Bard managed five of the final six points, all of which came on kills, to take the set, 25-23. 

Despite being behind two sets to none, the Bloodhounds did not go down without a fight. After a dominating third set win over the Raptors, John Jay nearly forced a fifth and final set, before Bard was able to sneak out the set four win, 30-28.

As the set progressed to its final stage, Bard looked like it was done. The team held a 19-16 lead at one point, before John Jay flipped the narrative by scoring eight of the next ten points to push Bard to game point, 24-21.

The hosts weren't done though, as they answered right back by scoring four straight points to regain the lead at 25-24. After trading points, the Bloodhounds scored two straight to push Bard to another game point, before the Raptors responded with two points of their own. 

With the score, 28-27, the two squads again exchanged offsetting points, before Talamantes was finally able end the match with one final kill. 

Excitement and jubilation exploded from the Bard sideline as the final whistle blew, while John Jay was left with disappointment. Despite the final score line, the two sides were evenly matched throughout, as hitting percentage, kills and errors were nearly identical between the two. The only real difference between the teams? Aces. Bard won the category, 11-5. 

Individually, Talamantes set a new career-high with 15 kills, as she led the offense for a second straight match. Victoria Chou, playing in her final match, collected 10 kills and 14 digs, while Mikala L'Hote also added 10 kills.

Smith tied her career mark with 40 assists in the win. Anastasi collected 23 digs. 

For John Jay, Brianna Geraldo (Bronx, NY) finished with 17 kills, eight digs and an ace. Kimberly Rodriguez (Glendale, NY) chipped in 46 assists in the effort.

The Bard College women's volleyball team will return to the court in the fall of 2019.