HAVERFORD, Pa. – On the first day of action at the Haverford Invitational, the Haverford College volleyball team registered a split, sweeping past Farmingdale State 3-0 in the first of two contests before falling 3-1 in a nightcap matchup with Hunter. Both matchups represented the first meetings between the respective programs. Natalie Pisch led the way with 32 total kills on the day while first year Elena Filograna recorded 10 service aces. Haverford is now 1-1 on the season after the first day of action. Haverford has not lost a season opener since the 2011 campaign.
Haverford 3, Farmingdale State 0
The Fords powered past the Rams with a 25-6, 25-21, 25-15 victory. The Fords came out firing on all cylinders in the first set of the year, hitting .524 in the stanza. Haverford darted out to a 6-1 run with a Kendall Robison kill giving the Fords a five-point cushion. The lead stretched to 11-4 following a block from Claire Nicholas and Julia Gallagher-Teske and grew to 15-4 following a Filograna service ace. Gallagher-Teske oversaw a 10-0 run at the service line as the hosts pulled away 25-6.
The Fords struggled to get away from Farmingdale State in the second, but Robison gave Haverford a 13-10 lead with a kill and then immediately oversaw a 3-0 run at the service line. The Fords had another 4-0 run in them to prompt a Farmingdale State timeout, up 20-12. The Rams cut the lead to just three at 24-21 but Haverford had too much firepower, putting away the set at 25-21.
Haverford jotted out to a 10-4 lead in the third set, buoyed by two service aces from Filograna. The lead grew to 16-9 following a Claire Nicholas kill. Farmingdale State rallied, cutting the lead to just four at 16-12, but Haverford went into overdrive with a 9-2 run to close out the victory. The run included four consecutive service aces from Filograna.
Pisch led the way with 13 kills on 27 swings. Filograna's seven service aces were the most in a single-match for Haverford since Zoe Wong also had seven in 2015. Sydney Miller contributed a match-high 26 assists while Sara Matsumura added a match-best 15 digs.
Hunter 3, Haverford 1
A spirited four-set match with an NCAA tournament team a season ago in Hunter provided many twists and turns before the visiting Hawks ultimately prevailed 25-20, 25-15, 27-29, 25-21.
The two squads were locked at 10-10 in the first set, but Marelan Budna delivered three straight kills to put Hunter in the lead at 17-13. After a block from Budna and Miranda Hogan, Hunter went ahead 18-13. A 5-2 swing for the visitors put Hunter on the brink of set point up 23-15, and a service error by Haverford gave the Hawks a chance to seal the set. Undaunted, Haverford went on a 4-0 run from that point, including a solo block from Gallagher-Teske, before ultimately ceding the set 25-20.
Hunter hit .303 in the second stanza, turning a knotted 10-10 contest into an 18-13 advantage. Robison and Gallagher-Teske delivered kills, but a 6-0 run put Hunter up 2-0.
The third set saw Hunter up 16-10 before the Fords battled back to knot things at 19-19. Haverford took a brief 20-19 lead on a Nicholas kill, but Hunter answered back to go ahead by a score of 23-20. Haverford had an answer of its own, with a Pisch kill tying the score at 24-24. The teams traded blows from that point forward, with a perfectly timed blocked from Dina Kosyagin and Madison Adore sending Gooding Arena into a frenzy, sealing a 29-27 set victory.
Hunter opened up the fourth set on an 11-3 run and eventually stretched its lead to 16-6. Haverford came all the way back to prompt a Hunter timeout down by just three at 23-20, but Hunter scored two of the final three points to escape with a 25-21 victory.
Pisch led the Fords with 19 kills in the second match while Nicholas added 11. Gallagher-Teske assisted on four blocks and added a solo denial. Miller pitched in 40 assists and Matsumura had 21 digs. Filograna had three service aces.
The Fords return tomorrow to wrap up the Haverford College Invitational with a pair of afternoon matchups. Haverford faces off with Wheaton (Mass.) at noon before returning for a 4 p.m. first serve against Arcadia. The Fords will be facing off with Wheaton for the first time in program history and will be matching up with Arcadia for just the fourth time. Haverford swept past the Knights at home a season ago to pull to 2-1 in a series that started when the Glenside, Pa. based university was known as Beaver College.