SALISBURY, MD. — Graduate student libero Gaby Hernandez-Ferraiuoli reached the career milestone of 1,000 digs on Saturday afternoon in the midst of a two-game split for the Cardinals against Swarthmore and Mount Aloysius.

MATCH 1 - Swarthmore 3, Catholic 0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-23)

In their first matchup of the day, the Cardinals fell behind early in each of the first two sets and were unable to bounce back and fell behind 2-0 to the Garnet. 

Catholic did establish some momentum in the third set and pulled even at 10 after back-to-back kills from freshman Ava Borcky and an ace from Hernandez-Ferraiuoli. After Catholic pulled ahead, 12-11, Swarthmore went on a 7-0 scoring run to retake control of the match. The Cardinals had kills from Borcky and Grace Guerin to pull within one at 24-23 but the Garnet would take the match on a kill by Izzy Adam to finish off the sweep. 

Borcky led the way for Catholic in kills in her first career match with eight followed by Tanya Sichling and Guerin who had three and two respectively. Hernandez-Ferraiuoli led the defensive efforts with 16 digs with Kate Berra adding 14 and Sichling finishing with 10. 

Swarthmore had three players finish with double digit kills, Angelina Heminway (11), Alexia Enache (10) and Izzy (10). Emily Sun led the way with 28 assists and also added 16 digs for a double-double.

MATCH 2 - Catholic 3, Mount Aloysius 1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-14, 25-22)

The Cardinals picked up the first win of the Casey Burford era in the final match of the weekend, knocking off Mount Aloysius 3-1.

After dropping a tightly played opening set, Catholic found its stride in set number two. The Cardinals opened up an early 7-2 lead in the opening volleys with Guerin leading the charge with three kills. Later in the set, Catholic went on a 6-0 run to take command of the set and cruise to a 25-18 win to pull even at one.

The Cards continued to dominate in the third set, holding the Mounties to just a -.111 hit percentage in the set. Six different Catholic players picked up kills in the set and Berra put the final exclamation point on the frame with an ace to finish off a 25-14 set win to give Catholic a 2-1 lead. 

After a slim 8-7 lead for the Cardinals after the first several volleys, Laci Freitas spurred a 5-1 run for Catholic with three kills to help give the Cardinals a cushion. Mount Aloysius was able to even things up at 19 before Catholic took four of five rally's to come within two from closing out the victory. On the match point, Erin Faughnan came up with the decisive kill to close out a 3-1 win for the Cardinals.

Hernandez-Ferraiuoli soared past the 1,000 dig milestone during the match, leading the way for the Cardinals with 21. She moved into 16th all-time in program history in career digs, passing Brynn Cooley (2014-17). The offense was led by Guerin who tallied 11 kills and Faughnan and Sichling added nine and eight respectively. Berra distributed 24 assists to lead the Cards in that category with Anna Maria Carella having 16. Hernandez-Ferraiuoli and Guerin were both selected to the All-Tournament Team of the Margie Knight Classic.

Catholic returns home on Wednesday, September 4 for their first home match of the season. The Cardinals welcome Washington College to Franny Murray Court with the action starting at 7 pm.