HOBOKEN, N.J. – The Catholic volleyball team competed a perfect day, winning all six sets on Saturday afternoon, defeating Defiance and Union at the Stevens Tournament to improve to 2-1 on the season. 
 
GAME 1 – Catholic 3, Defiance 0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-17)
 
Senior captain Olivia Blondin remained red hot to start the 2023 campaign, registering 14 kills on 20 swings while adding 10 digs to make it a double-double. Halie Murphy chipped in with an 11-kill performance to help lead the Catholic offense.
 
Sydney Sheppard dished out 31 assists in the match while digging 12 balls and adding three kills in a stat-stuffing performance.
 
For the match, Catholic hit .306, tallying 38 kills on 85 attacks with just 12 errors on the afternoon. Catholic also racked up eight service aces with Blondin, Tanya Sichling, and Aileen McPartland each notching a pair of aces.
 
Catholic took command early on, jumping out to a 14-8 lead in the first set after a Murphy kill. The Cardinals extended their lead to seven at 19-12 as Blondin and Grace Guerin combined on a block. Catholic led by 10 after another Murphy kill before closing out a 25-16 set win.
 
The Cardinals were forced to come from behind in the second set, falling behind 13-9 before tying things up at 15 after a Blondin kill. Defiance retook the lead at 18-16, but a Catholic run put them up 21-18 after an attack error. Erin Faughnan put Catholic up 23-20 before a pair of attack errors gave Catholic a 25-21 set advantage.
 
Heather Stout's team took a 12-6 lead in the third after two aces from McPartland and jumped the lead to eight before closing out the third set 25-17.
 
GAME 2 - Catholic 3, Union (N.Y.) (26-24, 25-18, 25-22)

Murphy and Blondin continued to roll later in the afternoon, combining for 35 kills and hitting .455 in the three-set victory. Sheppard shined again, handing out 40 assists, digging nine balls, and chipping in with four kills. 

Defensively, Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli led the way with 16 digs while Blondin added another double-double with 14 digs for the game. Izzy Steinberg had 12 digs as well in the winning effort. 

The Cardinals hit .311 in the match, including a stout .371 in the second set. Catholic trailed 22-20 late in the first set, but back-to-back Murphy kills pushed Stout's team ahead 23-22. Union tied it up at 24-24 before Murphy and Blondin closed out a 26-24 win in set one. 

Catholic used another run to break it open in the second set after trailing 15-14. A 6-1 run pushed the Cardinals ahead 20-16 as Sheppard and Blondin each had two kills during the stretch. Catholic scored the final five points of the set to go up 2-0 after a 25-18 win. 

In the final frame, the Cardinals trailed 21-20 before scoring five of the final six points to complete a perfect day. Murphy put down two of the final four points while Hernandez-Ferraiuoli picked up an ace to give Catholic a 24-21 win. 

The Cardinals will host Washington College in its home-opener on Wednesday evening at 7 pm on Franny Murray Court.