Concord, NH – The #3 seeded CMCC volleyball team's season came to an end with a 3-1 loss to #2 Paul Smith's College in the YSCC Tournament semifinals, Saturday afternoon at NHTI. The Mustangs close out the 2024 campaign with a 10-6 record.

Central Maine's run of two years at the top of the YSCC in volleyball came to an end at the hands of the Bobcats, the team the Mustangs defeated in 2022 to win its first of two straight YSCC championships and the first conference crown in program history. CMCC and Paul Smith's split its regular season meetings this year with the Mustangs taking the first match 3-2 also at NHTI's court back on September 14^th. PSC responded with a 3-2 win of its own at Word of Life's quad match on September 28^th.

Paul Smith's got out to a fast start to take the first set 25-11. Senior middle blocker Ali Russell had the block on set point, stuffing a Shalamar Szarka spike to secure things.

But the Mustangs found their footing in set #2, jumping out to an 8-2 lead and forcing PSC to call timeout. The Bobcats took the next six straight points to tie things up, and it stayed a back-and-forth point-for-point battle into the late stages. Autumn Peterson's cross court kill made it 21-23 but Maddi Rhodes stung a spike off of two blockers for the side out, and Karlye Murphy's serve forced a receive that went off the net to give Paul Smith's a 25-21 win.

The Bobcats looked like they may take it in straight sets when they went up 4-0 in set three. Central Maine dug deep and rallied back to take the next eight straight points and a lead they would not relinquish. Strong serving from Szarka made it 17-12 and a Ryleigh Clark spike found the far corner on set point to take it 25-15.

The teams that had been so competitive in their previous two encounters were neck-and-neck again through the fourth set. Another Clark kill made it 14-10 and forced a timeout. CMCC threatened to force a fifth and deciding set once again going up 20-17 only for several errors to give the advantage back to Paul Smith's. Finnley Jacobson wrapped things up with a strong kill down the middle to take the set and the match 25-22.

The #1 seed SMCC would go on to beat #2 Paul Smith's in the championship match 3-1. It was the first YSCC Tournament victory in program history for the Seawolves.

CMCC did still pick up some hardware. Keliah Stith was named a YSCC All-Conference selection after the tournament. The first-year libero from Boise, ID had a great season for the Mustangs, leading the team in digs and showing off plenty of power at the service line to get the team more than her share of aces throughout the year. Setter Shalamar Szarka was also a YSCC Honorable Mention leading the team in assists.