WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic volleyball's season came to a close on Tuesday night in a thriller against Susquehanna in the Landmark Conference Quarterfinals. The fifth-seeded River Hawks edged out the fourth-seeded Cardinals, 3-2, in an electric match that saw countless peaks and valleys. 

The Cardinals first postseason run since 2018 comes to an end as does their best season since 2016. The Cardinals finish 20-12 on the season while Susquehanna will go on to face top-seeded Juniata on Thursday. Olivia Blondin recorded 28 kills in the match for Catholic, setting a new Landmark Conference Tournament record. 

Despite Susquehanna holding a drastic statistical edge on the attack, Catholic scraped and clawed its way to a fifth set. The Cardinals won sets two and four, showing great resiliency after getting a shock from the River Hawks in a dominant opening set. 

Susquehanna hit .459 in the opening set, jumping out to lead of 9-4 and 13-5 before winning the set by a score of 25-13. 

The Cardinals bounced back, hitting .320 in the second set to eke out a 25-23 set win to tie things up. Blondin served up a pair of early aces as Catholic jumped ahead 5-0. Susquehanna punched back, taking an 8-7 advantage as Amanda Gore logged three kills during a 6-0 run. The River Hawks led 15-13 before Catholic took the next three points to jump ahead on a service ace from Brynne Burgess. Sydney Sheppard logged an ace for the Cardinals to tie the match at 19-19 just moments later. Both teams traded points and a service error tied the match at 23-23, but a Grace Guerin block and a Susquehanna attack error closed out the set for a Catholic win. 

Catholic had an opportunity to steal the third set despite falling behind 9-2. The Cardinals used a late 8-3 run to take a 23-22 lead on an Erin Faughnan block. Samantha Kline put down a kill to tie the set at 23 before Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli picked up a rare kill from the libero position to set up set point for Catholic. Gore logged two of the final three points of the set to win the set 27-25 for Susquehanna. 

Heather Stout's team continued to counterpunch, taking the fourth set 25-23 while hitting ,333 for the set. Catholic jumped ahead 6-2 and 9-5 after a kill from Blondin. Catholic held onto a three-point edge until the River Hawks cut the deficit to two at 17-15. An Emily Kowalski kills brought the River Hawks back within one, but Faughnan recorded a block and a kill to push the lead back to three. Stella Robinson brought Susquehanna back within one at 22-21, but once again Catholic pushed the lead back to three on a Blondin kill. Trailing 24-21, Susquehanna took the next two points, but Blondin put down the final kill to push the match to a winner-take-all fifth set. 

Susquehanna's offense proved to be too much in the fifth set as the River Hawks hit .524, winning the final set 16-14. Susquehanna led it 4-1 before the Cardinals tied the set with kills from Faughnan and Guerin. Still tied, this time at 7-7, Susquehanna took the next three points with a pair of kills from Kowalski to push the River Hawks ahead 10-7. Susquehanna led 12-9, but a kill from Faughnan and a duo block from the Catholic middles brought the Cardinals back within one. Moments later Blondin put down two consecutive kills to tie the set at 13-13. Leading 14-13 after a Bri Livezey kills, Kuuipo Tom went to the bench to bring Maddy Kempski in for the first time. A service error tied the set and seemingly shifted the momentum back to Catholic, but Livezey and Kline recorded kills to advance Susquehanna to the Landmark Conference Semifinals. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Blondin set a new career-high in the final match of the season with 28 kills on 73 swings. The senior logged her 19th double-double of the season with 18 digs while also adding four aces to go over 95 for her career. Blondin will finish her Catholic career with more than 900 kills and 800 digs. Blondin's 483 kills this season are the most by a Catholic player since Carey Anne Nassib tallied 487 in 2007. 
• Moving all around the court, Faughnan put down a career high 19 kills while also contributing four blocks to the cause. Faughnan leveled up in her sophomore campaign, totaling 217 kills while hitting .326. Faughnan's .326 hitting percentage is the highest for a Cardinal since Kat Herrington hit .349 in 2014. 
• Sheppard went over 1,900 assists for her Catholic career, handing out the second-most assists in her career with 55 on Tuesday night. 
• With 11 aces, Catholic logged double digit service aces for the sixth time this season. Blondin (4), Izzy Steinberg (3), Burgess (2), and Sheppard (2) each recorded multiple aces. 
• Susquehanna had five players with at least 12 kills in the match, led by 22 kills from Kowalski. Kline hit an impressive .500 in the match with 18 kills as each of the top-five in kills for Susquehanna hit .269 or better.