WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic picked up a four-set victory over Moravian in Friday evening's Dig Pink game as the Cardinals improve to 16-8, surpassing last year's win total. Catholic is 3-2 in Landmark Conference play with the victory. 

Sydney Sheppard assisted on 50 of the team's 55 kills while Halie Murphy (17), Olivia Blondin (16), and Grace Guerin (10) combined for 43 kills in the effort. Guerin hit .381 in the contest and added a solo block and a block assist while Blondin had 19 digs to go with her 16 kills. 

Five different players recorded at least 13 digs for Catholic with Blondin, Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli, and Izzy Steinberg each recording 19. Ally Plitnick and Sam Love tied for match-high of 22 digs each for the Greyhounds. 

Catholic trailed 13-10 in the first set before putting together a four-point run to retake the lead with kills from Guerin and Murphy plus an ace from Brynne Burgess. The set swayed back and forth with Makenzie Krasley picking up a kill to tie things at 21 for Moravian, but Guerin picked up a pair of kills as Catholic jumped ahead 24-21. Guerin's sixth kill of the opening set put the Cardinals up 1-0 with a 25-22 win. 

After 11 ties in the first set, the second set saw just six ties and two lead changes as Catholic used a 9-0 run to swing the score from 10-8 in favor of the Greyhounds to 17-10 Cardinals. Tanya Sichling, Sydney Hanley, and Murphy each recorded kills during the run while Blondin chipped in with an ace. Moravian got it back within four, but the Cardinals pulled away to win 25-18 with another kill from Hanley and an ace from Blondin to close it out. 

Heather Stout's team nearly put the match away in straight sets in a third set that saw 10 ties and seven lead changes, but Moravian overcame an eight-point deficit late to pick up a 27-25 set victory to extend things. After Blondin picked up back-to-back kills to go up 25-24, Moravian took the final three points with a kill from Payton Reuber and an ace from Gabbie Reigner to end it. 

The Cardinals bounced back to finish the job in four sets, overcoming another mid-set rally from Moravian to close out a 25-20 set win. After holding a 12-7 advantage, Catholic gave up four straight to Moravian to bring them back within one. However, Catholic responded with two blocks from Hanley, a kill from Sichling, and an attack error to extend the lead to 16-11. The Greyhounds pushed back to tie the set at 19-19 before Catholic took six of the final seven points. Blondin recorded the final four kills of the match to earn the win for Catholic. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• With 16 kills tonight, Blondin has recorded 12 or more kills in six straight matches. Tonight marked her 10th match of the season with 15 or more kills and the senior also registered her 13th double-double of the season. 
• Murphy's 17 kills give her six matches this season with 15 or more kills and leave her just four shy of 300 for the season. The former Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week surpassed her kill total from last season in seven less matches and is 14 shy of 600 for her career. 
• Tonight was the third time this season that Guerin recorded 10 or more kills, leaving her just four shy of matching her total of 115 from a year ago. Guerin is hitting .361 as a junior, a more than 150 point jump in hitting percentage from her sophomore campaign (.195). 
• Hernandez-Ferraiuoli reached 800 digs for her Catholic career with 19 on Friday night. The senior libero has 10 or more digs in 22 of 24 games this season. 
• Catholic's 93 digs in the match were a season-high, topping 82 recorded digs at Gallaudet on Wednesday. 

Catholic will welcome Wilkes to town for a 1 p.m. Landmark Conference match while celebrating Alumni Weekend throughout the day.