HAVERFORD, Pa. – The No. 1 seed Haverford College volleyball team saw its hopes for a fifth straight Centennial Conference championship come to an end with a 3-2 (25-20, 17-25, 20-25, 27-25, 15-8) loss to fourth-seed Swarthmore College in Saturday's semifinal match at Gooding Arena.
After falling in the first set, the Fords claimed the next two and were on the verge of clinching a victory before Swarthmore took the final two points of the fourth set and ran away with the fifth. Haverford (18-13) totaled more kills (62-51), digs (87-75) and blocks (12.0-3.0) than the Garnet, but Swarthmore (19-10) seized the opportunity every time it needed a kill.
The Fords dominated the second and third sets, tallying 14 kills in each while holding Swarthmore to 14 combined. In the second set HC got out to a 5-0 lead and ran off four more points to hold a 10-3 lead. Jenine Abbassi had six kills on seven attempts and added two blocks in the frame.
Haverford fell behind, 6-2, in the third, but an 8-0 run turned things around quickly. Another 6-0 run later in the set put Fords up 17-10, but the Garnet managed to tie the score at 19-19 thanks to seven straight points. Kelsey Cantwell delivered kills on three of the Fords' final six points to give HC a 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set saw 10 tie scores and six lead changes which did not allow either team to take control until a Haverford error gave the Garnet a 23-20 lead. A pair of Swarthmore attack errors followed by a Caitlyn Tranquillo service ace and a Laura Ramos kill made the score 24-23 in favor of the hosts.
Swarthmore took the next two points, forcing HC to call timeout. Abbassi delivered a kill to tie the score, but back-to-back kills by Kathryn Montemurro gave Swarthmore the set.
The Fords led, 6-4, in the fifth, but Swarthmore claimed 11 of the final 13 points. Danielle Sullivan had three kills and Montemurro added two to close out the match.
Cantwell led all players with a season-high 17 kills to go along with a match-high four service aces and 11 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. Abbassi and Ramos recorded 14 kills each. Abbassi hit a match-best .379 and Ramos registered 12 digs for a double-double. Kate Comey set up her teammates with 55 assists and added 15 digs.
In addition to Cantwell, Comey and Ramos, Tranquillo (22) and Lowrance (13) also reached double-digits in digs. Olivia Coburn-Flynn had a hand in eight blocks while Comey had six blocks assists and Abbassi had four.
Sullivan and Montemurro went for 12 kills apiece while Genny Pezzola had 11 for the Garnet. Allison Coleman handed out 42 assists. Hillary Santana led Swarthmore with 20 digs.
In Saturday's second semifinal No. 3 seed Franklin & Marshall College (21-6) downed No. 2 Johns Hopkins University (19-12), 3-2 (25-10, 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 16-14). Swarthmore meets the Diplomats in Sunday's championship at 1 p.m.