ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team came back to defeat the No. 14 Eastern University Eagles in a thrilling five-set match before falling to the Salisbury Seagulls, 3-1, on Saturday at the Gymnasium.
After losing set one to the Eagles (25-16), the Fords came back from set point to win 29-27 in set two. Earlier, Haverford found itself down 14-9, but managed to tie the score at 14. The Eagles would retake the lead and kept the visitors at bay until the Fords tallied four straight points to take their first lead of the set at 24-22. Eastern answered back and took a 26-25 advantage, but a kill by junior Meg O'Day tied it at 26. Haverford won three of the final four points to pick up the victory. The final 12 points in the set featured four ties and six lead changes.
Set three featured similar theatrics as the final 18 points had three ties and four lead changes. The Fords held a 19-16 lead, however, the Eagles responded with four consecutive points. Haverford scored the next two points to jump in front 21-20, but Eastern quickly retook the lead and never gave it up, taking the set 25-23.
Head coach Michele Benoit's team raced in front, 10-3, during set four and led throughout despite several offensive charges from Eastern. The home team cut its deficit to three at 10-7, but the Fords scored three of the next four points. With Haverford up 23-17, Eastern registered five of six points to cut its deficit to two, but a ball handing error gave Haverford the set victory.
In the fifth and deciding set, the Fords got out in front, 9-3, before the Eagles notched six straight points. After Benoit called timeout, her team answered with six of the next eight points to take the match.
O'Day tied her career-high with 22 kills and had a .390 attack percentage while junior Keri Godbe recorded a double-double with 19 kills and 18 digs in the win. Junior Nina Mutty finished two kills shy of a double-double with 17 digs. Junior Olivia Walsh had a match-high 24 assists while freshman Zoe Wong added in 20 assists. Rikki Schlager had a match-high 53 assists and Lauren Sproles had 17 kills for the Eagles in the loss.
About 45 minutes after their victory over Eastern, the Fords came back to take on Salisbury.
After losing 25-18 in set one, the Fords defeated the Seagulls 25-16 in the second set. Salisbury led early, however, Haverford won five straight points to take a 12-11 advantage. The two teams traded points until the Fords ended the set with nine straight points.
Salisbury won set three (25-22) to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Fords tied the score at 19, but the Seagulls scored three straight points to take a lead they did not relinquish. The set was evenly played with no team having a lead of more than three points. Salisbury took the fourth and final set 25-17 to pick up the match victory over Haverford.
O'Day led the Fords with 15 kills and a .367 attack percentage. Godbe contributed 12 kills while Mutty had a team-high 19 digs in the loss. Shannon Russell and Katie Stouffer led the Seagulls with 12 kills in the win.
The Fords' record now stands at 10-7 on the season. Salisbury improves to 13-5 while Eastern suffered its first loss to a non-ranked opponent this season (15-5). Haverford will host Franklin and Marshall at the Gooding '84 Arena in a Centennial Conference matchup on Wednesday beginning at 7 p.m.