CHESTERTOWN, Md. – The Haverford College volleyball team secured a trip to the Centennial Conference tournament by virtue of a 3-1 win over Washington College on Wednesday night at the Cain Athletic Center on the campus of Washington College. Set scores for the match were 26-24, 25-18, 20-25, 25-12. Kaylynn Mayo posted a career-best 11 kills, hitting .533 with three service aces while Valentine Courouble added a match-best 19. Zoe Wong contributed 45 assists and three service aces. The Fords finished with a season-best 14 service aces on the night as Natalie Pisch led the effort with five aces. Haverford sits at 16-11 (6-3 CC) while Washington College is now 11-13 (2-7 CC).
The first set went to the Fords in extra points, a 26-24 win. Haverford pulled ahead 20-16 with a Natalie Pisch kill to induce a Shorewomen timeout. Washington College would edge back into the game to tie it at 22-22 before taking a brief lead at 24-23 on a Haverford attack error. A Mayo kill tied it up and consecutive kills from Pisch and Mayo gave Haverford a 26-24 win in a set in which they hit .216.
Haverford took the second set with relative ease after a 10-4 run to open the set led to a Shorewomen timeout. The Fords ran the lead to 12-5 with a service ace from Hailey O'Mara, and went ahead 17-12 after a service error from Rachel Baker. WAC got to within four at 22-18 but the Fords closed out the set with kills from Courouble and Mayo ahead of a Maddie Becker service ace to clinch the 2-0 lead.
The third set represented a breakthrough for the hosts. Haverford tied the set at 17-17 with back-to-back service aces from Zoe Wong, leading to a Washington College timeout. Haverford again tied the score at 19-19 after an O'Mara kill, but four straight Shorewomen points, including two service aces, gave the hosts a 23-19 lead, and Haverford called timeout. A Mayo kill cut the lead to three but Kaitlyn Marino and Lizzie Baden contributed the final two points to stave off the end of the match with a 25-20 win.
The Fords decided enough was enough in the fourth set. Haverford pulled out to a 13-6 lead with a Pisch kill and went up 19-7 after a bad set from Baden. Washington College called timeout but the run extended to 23-9 as Courouble posted back-to-back kills. Three straight errors from the Fords made it 23-12 but Courouble again posted back-to-back kills, registering the 18th and 19th of the contest to give Haverford a playoff spot for the third consecutive season with the 25-12 set win. Haverford hit .448 in the set.
Marino and Baden each contributed double-digit kill totals for Washington College while Taylor Horan added 37 assists. Becker (16), Sara Matsumura (15), Wong (11), O'Mara (10) and Pisch (11) each contributed double digit dig totals.
Haverford clinched a playoff spot with the win. The Fords are 6-3 in the Centennial and owned the tiebreaker over 5-4 Gettysburg. Haverford can earn a first-round bye with a win over Swarthmore.
The Fords travel for the regular season finale against the Garnet (8-1) at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday in a Hood Trophy matchup.