ASTON, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team won both of its matches on Friday evening to open play at the Neumann Knights Invitational. The Fords (8-2), who have now won six straight matches, started their weekend with a sweep of Rutgers-Camden and a four set win over Catholic.

Haverford 3, Rutgers-Camden 0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19)

Playing three tightly contested sets, the Fords came through in the clutch each time against the Raptors. Pacing the offense at the net was a pair of 10-plus kill nights from Claire Nicholas and Natalie Pisch. Nicholas tallied a match-high 15 kills with a .419 swing percentage during the victory. The first year has proved crucial to Haverford's success as each time she has hit the 10 kill mark, the Fords have come out on the winning side of the scoreboard. Pisch racked up 10 kills and no errors on her way to a .312 hitting percentage in the victory. She now has 10 or more kills in nine of Haverford's 10 matches to start the year. The junior co-captain had nine kills in the only match she did not reach double figure kills.

Senior co-captain Zoe Wong put the offense in motion all night with 30 assists while also tallying two block assists. Wong has reached that 30 kill mark in each of Haverford's wins this season. Sydney Miller and Madison Adore joined Wong with two block assists on the night, but the team lead belonged to Julia Gallagher-Teske as she rang up four block assists. Defensively, Sara Matsumura led the team with 24 digs over the three sets.

Haverford 3, Catholic 1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-21, 25-17)

Each of the three sets against Catholic that ended with the biggest margin belonged to the Fords on Friday night. The lone exception was a 25-22 setback during the second which Haverford quickly recovered from. In the second match of the night, Pisch compilied 24 of Haverford's 52 kills for a new career high which eclipsed her previous best of 21 kills in the match against John Carroll during the Haverford Invitational. The junior finished the night with a .344 hitting percentage and was one of three players who finished with double figure kill totals. Nicholas had another solid match and continued her trend with 14 kills during the Fords' win. The first year also had three service errors and 13 digs for the match. Gallagher-Teske also reached double figures in kills as she recorded 11 on the night. Wong set up all but one of those kills with 50 assists on the night.

Defensively, Matsumura led the way once again with 23 digs. Adore came up with Haverford's lone solo block of the evening while assisting on another successful block. Gallagher-Teske added two block assists as the Fords totaled four blocks during the match.

Haverford will be back in action tomorrow at 10 a.m. to take on Widener at the beginning of Day 2. The Pride are also 2-0 in Pool B after Day 1 of the invitational. Widener was a four set winner against the same opponents the Fords met on Friday. Haverford will play its second match tomorrow at 4 p.m. regardless of the outcome of the Widener match. However, a win over the Pride would put them in the championship match which will be streamed on Court 1. Salisbury is the only undefeated team in Pool A after the first day of action.