SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team registered an emphatic five-set victory over rival Swarthmore, clinching a first-round bye into the Centennial Conference semifinals on Saturday. The Fords took the first two sets before outlasting the Garnet in the fifth in an epic seesaw battle. Set scores for the match were 25-21, 29-27, 20-25, 18-25, 15-12.
Valentine Courouble capped her final regular season game with an outstanding performance, tallying a career-best 29 kills, good for the third most in program history. Maddie Becker also set a career best in digs with 38 on the afternoon. Haverford improves to 17-11 (7-3 Centennial) while Swarthmore is now 22-4 (8-2 Centennial).
The Fords and Garnet were locked in a tight first set battle, with Haverford taking an early 11-6 lead with a Hailey O'Mara service ace. The Garnet were able to pull within one at 11-10 after consecutive service aces from Sarah Girard before the Fords went up 13-10 with a Natalie Pisch service ace. From that point, the two teams mainly traded points until Haverford used kills from Pisch, Courouble and Julia Gallagher-Teske to go up 23-20. After an attack error put Haverford on the brink of the opening set win, Swathmore called timeout, leading to a Bridget Scott kill. Courouble was again in perfect position to deliver the set win at 25-21.
The second set was just as close, with extra points needed to decide it. Haverford trailed 10-7 with Bridget Scott delivering a kill before a Pisch service run gave Haverford a brief 11-10 lead. Later in the action, Swarthmore was able to get out to a 21-18 lead before the Fords tied it at 21-21 with kills from Zoe Wong and Courouble. Swarthmore asked for timeout and a Wong kill and a Garnet attack error made it 23-21 in favor of the Fords, forcing another Garnet timeout.
Sarah Wallace, the reigning conference player of the year, delivered a kill and a service error to tie it at 23-23 before Courouble put Haverford ahead 24-23 and on the brink. An attack error tied it at 24-24 but Cououble gave Haverford the 25-24 lead. Mehra den Braven sent down back-to-back kills to give Swarthmore a 26-25 lead but Courouble again tied it with a kill at 26-26 after a Fords timeout. An attack error by Pisch put Swarthmore ahead 27-26 but the Fords rallied back with the final three points of the set, using a block from Kaylynn Mayo and Natalie Pisch to sideout ahead of a Mayo service ace and a Pisch kill to give the Fords a 2-0 advantage.
The third set went to Swarthmore, who went up early 10-5 before the Fords cut the lead to just two at 16-14 with a Hailey O'Mara kill. The Fords got to within one at 20-19 after Courouble delivered yet another kill, but after a Swarthmore timeout, the Garnet regained momentum with a Courouble kill the only point to the Fords in the final sequence as the Garnet prevailed 25-20.
In the fourth, Swarthmore started on a 13-9 run and went up 17-12 after a Wallace service run prompted a Fords timeout. Haverford cut the lead to 20-17 after an attack error from den Braven, but would get no closer as the Garnet tied the match at 2-2 with a 25-18 win.
The decisive fifth set saw the Fords go ahead 8-6 after some early Garnet momentum. A block from Mayo and Pisch gave Haverford the two-point swing but Swarthmore tied it at 9-9 after a ball handling error from Zoe Wong. The Fords called timeout and came out of the break with renewed energy as Natalie Pisch punched down a kill and Gallagher-Teske and Mayo combined for a huge block to give the Fords an 11-9 lead.
Swarthmore cut the lead to 11-10 as Sarah Wallace kept up her impressive pace. Pisch and Courouble sent down the next two points with kills as Haverford took a 13-10 lead, a commanding advantage late in the set. A service error by Haverford an a Wallace ace cut the lead to 13-12, but Courouble made it 14-12 with her 29th kill of the day and Wallace made an attack error to send the Fords into celebration after a massive win on the road.
The Fords put up highlights all across the board, with seven total team blocks: Mayo (4), Pisch (4), Gallagher-Teske (3), Wong (2) and Courouble (1) all got into the block party. Pisch tallied 16 kills while Wong added five to go with 49 assists.
Wallace (18) and den Braven (15) led the Garnet in kills while Elise Cummings (24) and Malia Scott (20) picked up the majority of assists from the setter spot. Sarah Girard had 27 digs for Swarthmore.
Haverford hit .153 on the match to .150 for the hosts. The Fords picked up five service aces while Swarthmore had nine.
Haverford will now avoid playing a Wednesday contest in an opening round battle and is now locked into a rematch with Swarthmore in a Centennial Conference semifinal in Baltimore on Saturday. Match time is to be announced.