HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team has released its 2015 schedule that features 29 matches including nine of those that will take place at the Gooding '84 Arena. The Fords, who went to the NCAA Regional Semifinals last year, will play five teams that made the 2014 NCAA Tournament including the regular season opener at Cabrini (Sept. 1).
The Fords welcome The City College of New York and Stevenson (Sept. 5) to Gooding '84 Arena for the Haverford/Swarthmore Invitational. The next day at Swarthmore, Haverford battles Carnegie Mellon and Salisbury. Head coach Michele Benoit takes her team on the road to Elizabethtown (Sept. 9), Kean (Sept. 12) and Lancaster Bible (Sept. 16) before a tri-match against conference rival Dickinson and Messiah (Sept. 19). After three road matches, the Fords end the month of the September at home vs. Johns Hopkins (Sept. 30).
A string of single matches continue throughout October with home matches vs. Ursinus (Oct. 7), Muhlenberg (Oct. 14) and road matches at the defending Centennial Conference champion Franklin and Marshall (Oct. 9) and Juniata (Oct. 16), who finished No. 10 in the final American Volleyball Coaches' Division III poll last season. The Juniata match is the beginning of a six consecutive road matches. A Bryn Mawr match (Oct. 21) is sandwiched between two road tri-matches, one with Thomas More, who made the 2014 NCAA Tournament and Westminster with the other featuring McDaniel and FDU-Florham. The regular season finishes with two home matches vs. Washington College and Swarthmore. Haverford earned the right to host the Centennial Conference Tournament last season after a thrilling five-set victory at Swarthmore in the regular season finale.
The Centennial Conference tournament begins with the first round matchup on Nov. 4 while the semifinals are on Nov. 7 and the championship on Nov. 8. The NCAA Regionals beginning the following week (Nov. 13-15).
Benoit is in her fifth season leading the volleyball program. She led the team to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under her watch last season and has three straight 20-win seasons. In 2014, Meg O'Day was selected to the AVCA All-American third team, Newport News Regional All-Tournament team and was the Centennial Conference Player of the Year.