HAVERFORD, Pa. – Juniors Nina Mutty and Keri Godbe each tallied a double-double to help the Haverford College volleyball team defeat the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats 3-1 at the Gooding '84 Arena on Wednesday night.
Mutty had 12 kills and tied a team-high with 17 digs while Godbe had 12 kills and 14 digs for the Fords. It's Mutty's eighth double-double of the season while Godbe has reached the plateau 11 times this year.
Godbe now has 999 career kills and ranks eight all-time in program history. Junior Meg O'Day, who finished with a team-high 18 kills in the match, has 980 career kills and moved into 10th place all-time tonight. The reigning Centennial Conference Player of the Week also extended her streak of consecutive matches with at least ten kills to 28.
The Fords jumped out in front in the first set 14-12 before the Diplomats rattled off six consecutive points which prompted a timeout by the home team. A 6-1 run by F&M gave the visitors set point, but Haverford responded by fighting off seven straight points to tie the score at 24. The Fords faced another set point at 25-24, but tallied the final three points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
After F&M recovered to take the second set 25-19, the Fords had to come back in the third set to take a 2-1 lead. The Diplomats led for a majority of the set, but never by more than three points. With the conference rival leading 17-14, the Fords scored four of five points to tie the score at 18 and then rattled off six of the final eight points in the set to win 25-20.
The fourth set was another close contest with no team leading by more than four points. The final 19 points of the set featured five ties and six lead changes. The Fords scored three of the final four points to take the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-1.
Junior Olivia Walsh led the Fords with 25 assists while senior Sarah Brody tied the team-high with 17 digs in the victory. The Fords had five players record a service ace (Kenney, Brody, O'Day, Mutty and Wong) and four players reach double-figures in digs (Mutty, Godbe, Kenney and Brody). Jaclyn Laforgia led the Diplomats with 20 kills in the loss.
Tonight's win marks the first time that the Fords have defeated the Diplomats since the 2012 season. Haverford has also won its first three conference matches for the first time since the 2010 season. The Fords' saw their record improve to 11-7 overall while F&M fell to 11-8 and 1-3 in the conference. Haverford will host a tri-match on Saturday against Gettysburg and Baruch with the matches set to begin at 12 p.m.