SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Seniors Laura Ramos and Jenine Abbassi sparked the attack and helped lead the Haverford College volleyball team into the second round of the Centennial Conference playoffs with a 3-1 victory over host Swarthmore College Wednesday night in the quarterfinal round of the league's postseason tournament.
Ramos tallied a match-high 18 kills and Abbassi added 15 more for a Haverford (14-13) team which had dropped its regular season finale to the same opponent four days prior. Swarthmore's season ends after the loss to the Fords with a 23-7 mark.
The Fords broke out of the gate quickly in game one Wednesday rolling to an 8-0 lead over the Garnet on the way to a 25-22 win. A six-point run midway through a game two, 25-23, victory during which the Fords also never trailed pushed Haverford to a 2-0 lead in front of a Swarthmore home crowd of 233 in Tarble Pavilion.
The home team responded to its cheering crowd and returned the favor in the third game, seizing the lead with the first point and never looking back in a quick 25-16 win that could have turned the momentum. Wednesday, though, was a day, and night, for Haverford athletics.
While volleyball was serving for the winning point in the match at Swarthmore, the Fords' women's soccer team had already won its first-round playoff game at home and field hockey had just put the finishing touches on a rousing comeback under the lights at Swan field.
Madison Fuelling served for Haverford with her team leading 25-24 in the fourth game. Within minutes of volleyball earning the winning point on a Swartmore attack error, the men's soccer team closed out a one-goal road victory to move the Fords -- all the Fords -- to 4-0 on the day in the Centennial's opening round.
Haverford's Sarah Brody had one of her best days as the Fords' defensive specialist in the volleyball win over the Garnet as the freshman came up with a match-high 29 digs. Joining Brody on the floor with save after save were Ramos with 25 digs, Caitlyn Tranquillo with 22 and Fuelling with 17 more.
Setting up Ramos and Abbassi at the net was Haley Lowrance who registered a match-high 45 set assists. Lowrance also came up with three blocks at the net trailing only Abbassi's 3.5 blocks in the match.
Next up for the Fords is a trip to Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University where Haverford will take on the top-seeded hosts Friday night at 8 p.m. in the second of a pair of semifinal matches. The opening semifinal of the night pits second-seed Franklin & Marshall College against third-seed Gettysburg College.