Volleyball: Knights Positioned Well in Conference Early

The Knights are one win away from equaling its win total for all of last season and will hit the court tonight as it hosts Chesapeake College for a 6 p.m. match. 

While CCBC Essex is 6-6 overall, it's 4-0 in the Maryland Juco Conference, one of just four teams in the league to accomplish such a feat this early in the season. 

One of the reasons for the Knights early success has been the play of freshman outside hitter Jillian Boyd (Seton Keough)

Boyd leads the team in kills (94), kills per set (2.21) and digs (135). She is ranked fifth in the first two and tied for fourth in the latter within the conference.

Another freshman outside hitter has been a big part of the Knights offense.

Maggie Williams (Loch Raven) is second on the team to Boyd in kills per set (2.17), kills (89) and digs (110). She is top ten in the conference in all three categories. 

Among the Knights three returners, sophomore Courtney Tripp (Chesapeake-BC) has had arguably the biggest turnaround season. 

The 5-foot-6-inch Dundalk native is leading the team with 5.33 assists per set. Not only does that also rank her seventh in the conference, but it's up 52 percent from last season (3.50).

Gabby Gray has also begun to leave her mark.

A freshman outside hitter by way of Parkville High School, Gray leads the team and the conference with 0.86 service aces per set.  

Kelli Standiford is another Loch Raven graduate making an impact as a freshman. 

Playing libero, she is averaging 2.45 digs per set and has 103 total digs, ranking her third on the team in both categories. 

The Knights rank No. 5 in Maryland Juco with 258 total kills, trailing only College of Southern Maryland (269), Hagerstown C.C. (444), Harford C.C. (448) and Howard C.C. (454).

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