BALTIMORE – The No. 2 seed Notre Dame of Maryland volleyball hosted No. 3 Wilson College on Thursday evening in the Colonial States Athletic Conference volleyball semi-finals after receiving a bye in the first round. The Gators swept Wilson 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-21) to advance to the CSAC Finals on Saturday at No. 1 Cedar Crest.


HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Gators started on the attack with two early kills from Gabbi Taganas to get the home crowd riled up. With the Phoenix lingering around down 10-1, Natalie Newton delivered two difference-making kills to allow the Gators to go on a run. 
• Newton served three straight aces to force a Wilson timeout. She ended the set with eight points off four aces and four kills. Newton had five assists and would finish the night with 10. 
• Taganas, who was named a First-Team All-CSAC hitter on Tuesday, blocked an attack from Wilson and Miasia Ferrer had a huge hit for a kill to close out the first set. 
• Ferrer and four other Gators had four or more kills. Taganas had a team-high of eight. 
• The Defense produced 57 digs led by All-Conference Libero Angel Carino who had 17 digs. Jade Stewart backed Carino with 12 digs on the return. Stewart had a strong all-around night tallying five kills and four service aces in the win. 
• Emma Mueller was terrific on the return in the second set. She had seven digs and added five set assists to add to her 13 total on the day. 

OF NOTE

• Notre Dame(Md.) goes 2-0 against Wilson to end the season.
• Four Gators including Taganas, Carino, Mueller, and Newton were named to the 2021 All-Conference team Tuesday by the league office.
• Notre Dame moves to 14-11 on the season and 9-1 against conference opponents. 

UP NEXT

No. 2 Notre Dame (Md.) will travel to No. 1 Cedar Crest for the CSAC Finals on Saturday at 1 p.m. Watch on the Gators Network and follow live stats at Notredamegators.com.