HAVERFORD, Pa. - Freshman Keri Godbe tallied double figures in kills and digs to help the Haverford College volleyball team roll past visting Gettysburg College, 3-0, in the opening round of the Centennial Conference tournament on Thursday night.
Avenging one of their three conference losses in the 2012 campaign, the fourth-seeded Fords (21-9) dominated the No. 5 seed Bullets (15-14) from the onset of the match.
Haverford broke open a 12-12 tie in a closely contested first set by scoring eight of the next 11 points to move out to a 20-15 lead. Godbe provided three of her 10 kills on the night during the tide-turning stretch. Nina Mutty registered two kills and Olivia Coburn-Flynn and Emily Mills added one apiece during an impressive closing run as the Fords claimed a 25-18 victory.
The second set followed a similar pattern as the two squads moved out to an 11-11 deadlock. Mills provided two timely kills to give Haverford a 19-17 lead and Meg O'Day took over from there as she accounted for three of the Fords' final five points of a 25-21 win.
Sensing a trip to the semifinals was within reach, Haverford jumped out to a 10-3 lead in set three with the help of more solid play from Mills and Mutty. An ensuing timeout by Gettysburg did little to squelch the Fords' blistering attack as Haverford pushed out to an 18-9 advantage on another kill by O'Day. The Bullets moved to within five at 21-16 but would get no closer as O'Day's 10th and final kill of the contest punctuated the 25-17 victory and subsequent trip to the semifinals.
Mills paced the attack with 11 kills as Haverford registered a .375 attack percentage in set three and .291 percentage overall. Olivia Walsh contributed 37 of the Fords' 38 assists on the night. Mutty, Godbe and O'Day added two service aces each.
Godbe and Madison Fuelling shared team-high honors in digs with 11 apiece. Mutty and O'Day each tallied two block assists to help the cause.
Sarah Gorski and Cydney Bracken led Gettysburg in kills with 12 and 11, respectively. Katie Wilson took match-high honors with 19 digs.
Qualifying for the conference semifinals for the 13th consecutive season, Haverford takes on host, and top seed, Franklin & Marshall College on Saturday at noon. The Fords outlasted the Diplomats 3-2 on Oct. 6 to account for the Diplomats' lone conference loss of the season. The winner of the match will take on the winner of the Johns Hopkins/Swarthmore semifinal on Sunday for the championship.