HAVERFORD, Pa. – The No. 22 Haverford College volleyball team had a busy day Saturday, but earned two important victories. Haverford swept (25-16, 25-22, 25-12) Johns Hopkins University in a Centennial Conference match, then defeated No. 23 Eastern University, 3-2 (25-15, 25-23, 22-25, 16-25, 16-14), in a thrilling five-setter between two top-25 teams.
Haverford's (18-2, 4-0 CC) match versus the Eagles provided plenty of excitement and proved the polls were correct as these two evenly matched teams took it to the limit. The Fords had control early, hitting .517 and .353 in the first two sets.
Eastern (16-2) held a two-point lead in the second set before an Eagles set error and two kills by Rebecca Salvo gave HC its first lead, 16-15. Haverford added on with another kill by Salvo and an Eastern error. The Eagles tied the score, but promptly committed two errors and Haverford held the lead for the rest of the set.
The Fords fell behind early in the third set and trailed by five just past the midway point. Consecutive kills by Jenine Abbassi and Salvo made the score 21-19, but that was as close as HC would get.
The Eagles simply dominated the net in the fourth set, blocking six Haverford attacks forcing a decisive fifth set. The Scarlet and Black trailed 3-0, but tied the score at 4-4 on back-to-back kills by Olivia Coburn-Flynn. Haverford was not satisfied with just tying the score as Salvo registered two kills and Caitlyn Tranquillo had a service ace for a three-point advantage.
After a timeout Eastern rallied for three straight points, but the Fords bumped their lead back up to three and came within a point of putting the match away before kills by Courtney Reinhold and Rachel Wenger and a service ace tied the score. Abbassi and Salvo ended things quickly with consecutive kills to win the match.
Rebecca and Rachel Salvo each had 17 kills. Rebecca led the defense with 19 digs and Rachel added 14. Coburn-Flynn had 11 kills and a .667 hitting percentage. Kate Comey dished out 52 assists.
Against Johns Hopkins (11-6, 0-2 CC) the Fords held their opponent under a .100 hitting percentage for the fifth straight victory as the Blue Jays hit just .064. Hopkins tallied only 26 kills and not one individual had more than six. The Fords defense stymied Hopkins' attack as four players reached double-digits in digs. Franny Glick led HC with 15, Kelsey Cantwell had 12 and Rachel and Rebecca Salvo finished with 11 and 10, respectively. Haverford registered seven total blocks on the day and Coburn-Flynn assisted on three.
Rebecca and Rachel Salvo helped kick-start the offense for the Scarlet and Black. Rebecca had 14 kills and hit .414 while Rachel connected on 12 kills and a .400 hitting percentage.
The first two sets started out very tight. The first saw seven tie scores as neither team managed to go up by more than one point until a 4-0 HC run gave them a 14-10 advantage. Rebecca Salvo served two aces in another 4-0 run to put the set out of reach.
The Blue Jays held a 10-8 lead in the second set, but a Rachel Salvo kill, followed by three Hopkins attack errors put Haverford up by three. Three HC kills and a service ace by Cantwell gave the Scarlet and Black a 17-11 lead that they were able to ride despite a late rally by the Blue Jays.
Haverford will travel to Franklin & Marshall College on Wednesday to face the Diplomats in a showdown between two first place teams at 7 p.m.