OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Kirstin Sessoms enjoyed a career-high day Sunday as she helped carry Virginia Wesleyan College's volleyball team to a split in a tri-match at Stevenson University.

Sessoms (Virginia Beach/Bayside) was a key player in a thrilling 3-2 victory over Gettysburg College's Bullets as she recorded 58 assists and 20 digs, both career highs.  Her assist total tied the second highest number in Virginia Wesleyan program history, originally set by Grace Geralds against Catholic University in 2006.

Virginia Wesleyan (15-12) and Gettysburg (13-14) traded set victories, with VWC winning the first (25-21) and third (25-15), and the Bullets hanging on with wins in the second (26-24) and fourth (25-21) sets.

That set up the fifth and deciding set which favored Gettysburg early.  Led by Hannah Dallman (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson), Joosje Grevers (Westport, Conn./Staples), and Courtney Morrow (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields), the Bullets opened up an 11-7 lead. 

But, two Gettysburg errors sparked the Marlins as an ace by Tempe Martens (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) and kill by Tiffany Barrett (Stafford/North Stafford) made it an 11-11 game. After the teams traded points, Alex Lambert (Alexandria/Hayfield) took over for VWC with two consecutive kills to give VWC a 14-12 lead. Sarah Gorski (Darien, Conn./Darien) and Grevers followed with kills to tie it at 14, but Lambert and Barrett put down back-to-back kills to give VWC the thrilling 16-14 win.

VWC's victory over Gettysburg was its third straight 3-2 decision over the Bullets.

Barrett finished with a career-high 18 kills for VWC, followed by Lambert with 16, and Martens with 15. Virginia Wesleyan recorded 65 kills overall, while Gettysburg potsted 50, led by Gorski with 15.

Martens also recorded a career-high in the match as she served eight aces, tying the fourth-highest single-match total in VWC history.  Lambert added four for the Marlins, who recorded a season-high 17 overall, tying the ninth best total in program history.

Virginia Wesleyan reorded a season-high 86 digs, led by Sessoms's 20, 19 by Marin Crowder (Charlottesville/Crozet Western Albemarle), 17 from Martens, 13 from Mikaela Whitaker (Gainesville/Haymarket Battlefield), and 11 from Lambert.

Lizzy Kuhn (Wilmington, Del./Archmere Academy) finished with 39 assists for Gettysburg and Alesha Miller (Hanover, Pa./New Oxford) produced 22 digs.

Virginia Wesleyan followed its win over Gettysburg with a 3-0 loss to No. 20 ranked Stevenson.  The Mustangs won 25-14, 25-15, and 25-18 to improved to 32-1 on the season.

Barrett emerged with a team-leading seven kills for the Marlins and Michaela Holbrooks (Brookneal/Naruna William Campbell) and Lambert recorded six each.  Sessoms added another 16 assists to her weekend total, and Crowder led the team with 14 digs.

Megan Miller (Middletown, Del./St. Georges Tech) led Stevenson with 10 kills. Jessica Gieselman (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) provided 35 assists and Samantha Perillo (Wilmington, Del./Wilmington Friends) came through for 16 digs.

Virginia Wesleyan closes its regular season on Saturday, Nov. 2, in a tri-match hosted by Averett University. The Marlins will face Ferrum College at 1 p.m. and take on Averett at 3 p.m. It will mark VWC's first match of the season against Ferrum's Panthers (3-21) and the third against Averett (22-8).  The teams split results earlier this season.

VWC begins Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament competition on Wednesday, Nov. 6, with quarterfinal action. Pairings are to be announced later.

--AMDG--