HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team split a tri-match on Saturday afternoon inside the Gooding '84 Arena, dropping a 3-0 decision to No. 24 Johns Hopkins before returning later in the afternoon to turn away Arcadia by a 3-0 score. Haverford is now 10-7 on the season and 0-3 in Centennial Conference play.
Sara Matsumura posted double-double efforts in each match on the day, tallying 11 kills and 12 digs against Johns Hopkins before an 11 kill, 20 dig effort against Arcadia. Set scores for the Johns Hopkins match were 14-25, 15-25, 19-25. Set scores for the Arcadia match were 25-23, 25-14, 25-12.
#24 Johns Hopkins 3, Haverford 0
In the conference match to start the day, Haverford was unable to withstand an impressive attacking effort from Johns Hopkins in the 3-0 sweep. In the first set, the visitors hit .481 to pull to victory. Haverford trailed just 4-3 before Johns Hopkins went on an 11-5 run to prompt a Fords timeout at 15-8. Johns Hopkins closed out the set at 25-14, taking advantage of strong hitting from Elizabeth Wuerstle and Simone Bliss in the latter goings to seal the set.
The Fords took a 5-4 lead to start the second set and were able to hang with Johns Hopkins in the early run of play. A 5-0 Blue Jays run led to a Haverford timeout with the Fords down 11-6, and after a block from Wuerstle and Natalie Aston, the Blue Jays amassed a 18-10 lead. Johns Hopkins took the set by a final of 25-15, limiting the Fords to a .000 hitting percentage defensively.
The third set was the most competitive in the match, with Haverford trailing by just one at 15-14 as Julia Gallagher-Teske teamed up with Natalie Pisch for her third block of the set. Pisch delivered a kill to pull Haverford back to within one at 16-15, but a 4-0 run for the Blue Jays gave the visitors a 20-16 lead going into a Haverford timeout. The advantage stretched to 21-16 after a Wuerstle service ace, and the match was put away by a block from Morgan Wu and Aston at 25-19.
Matsumura set a new career best with 11 kills while Zoe Wong tallied 20 assists in the loss. Matsumura also had a team-high 12 digs in the match and contributed a pair of aces from the service line. Gallagher-Teske had three total blocks.
The Blue Jays were able to spread the ball around efficiently with Bliss leading the way with 11 kills but five players tallying seven or more kills. Aston had 20 assists while Kristi Rhead chipped in 12. Wuerstle and Aston each chipped in five service aces. Louisa Kisthon had 17 digs.
Haverford 3, Arcadia 0
Haverford was able to prevail in its second match of the day behind a .337 hitting percentage and a defensive effort that limited Arcadia to just a .073 mark. Arcadia was competitive throughout the first set, taking a two-point lead at 20-18 after an Allison Elechko service ace. The Fords regrouped from that point, finishing off a 5-0 run with a pair of emphatic kills from Claire Nicholas. The Knights called for timeout, suddenly trailing by three at 23-20 and looking for answers defensively. Following the timeout, Arcadia minted a 3-0 run, taking advantage of a pair of Haverford errors to tie the score at 23-23. Matsumura delivered a kill to put the Fords up 24-23 before Nicholas gave Haverford the set by a final of 25-23 with a service ace.
The second set allowed Haverford to showcase its offense, as the hosts sprinted out to an 8-3 lead behind crisp passing and great communication on the floor. Haverford grew its lead to 20-8 after back-to-back services aces from Sydney Miller before Arcadia called for timeout to regroup. Arcadia cut the lead to 10 as late as at 24-14, but a service error finished the set off at 25-14 and gave the Fords a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Gallagher-Teske opened up the third with back-to-back blocks, recording a solo block before teaming up with Miller for an early 2-0 lead. Pisch and Matsumura helped key a run that gave the Fords a 12-5 lead before the Knights attempted to stop the flow of the stretch with a timeout. Arcadia was able to cut the lead to just three at 12-9, but the Fords rifled off another 5-0 run with Gallagher-Teske and Miller again teaming up for a momentous block.
Matsumura tallied her 11th kill of the match for an 10-point lead and the Fords closed out the match with a 4-0 run to confirm the sweep with a 25-12 win.
Matsumura and Pisch each contributed 11 kills against Arcadia with Matsumura adding 20 digs to pace the Fords. Wong had 31 assists and 10 digs for her first double-double of the season. Miller had a match-high four service aces. Gallagher-Teske finished with four total blocks, a match-high.
Arcadia was paced by Elechko with 10 kills and 12 digs to go with a trio of service aces. Colleen Stengel recorded 16 assists in a losing effort.
The Fords will be back in action with two key conference games next week. Haverford takes to the road for a midweek contest at Ursinus on Wednesday, October 4 at 7 p.m before heading to Gettysburg on Saturday, October 7 for a tri-match with the host Bullets and non-conference opponent Manhattanville starting at 1 p.m.