HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team (21-9) has qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2009 season as an at-large team. The Fords face the SUNY New Paltz Hawks (31-5) Friday on the campus of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.
The Fords were one of two Centennial Conference teams to make the tournament as the conference champion, Franklin and Marshall, received the automatic qualifier with its win over Muhlenberg on Sunday. F&M takes on Hope College on the campus of Wittenburg University on Thursday.
Haverford fell to F&M in the Centennial Conference semifinal on Saturday 3-1. It was one of only two losses at home for the Fords all season. The team's only other loss at the Gooding '84 Arena came at the hands of Stevenson University (Aug. 31), who is in the same NCAA regional as the Fords. The Fords' 12-2 home record is their best mark since going 14-0 in 2009.
Head coach Michele Benoit's squad rattled off five consecutive wins in September, topped off by a victory over No. 14 Eastern University, another team in the Fords' NCAA regional, in five sets. During October, the Fords won six straight to begin the month and ended it with a 10-1 record. On the last regular season Saturday, Haverford defeated Hood Trophy rival, Swarthmore, giving the Garnet its only conference loss of the season.
Junior Meg O'Day paced the offense for the Fords with 433 kills and an attack percentage of .351. She leads the conference in kills, total blocks (122) and is tied for second in attack percentage. Junior Keri Godbe is right behind her, ranking third with 397 kills while also placing fourth with 441 digs. Junior Jeanna Kenney leads the conference with 474 digs to help out the Fords' backline. Haverford is second in the conference in total blocks (237) and kills (1,406) while also placing third with 1,271 assists. Junior Olivia Walsh had 528 assists and freshman Zoe Wong's 509 assists helped set up the offense.
The SUNY-New Paltz Hawks won their second State University of New Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championship with a 3-0 victory over SUNY Fredonia. The Hawks were the No. 1 seed in the SUNYAC tournament after going undefeated in conference play. Becca Borquist's 449 kills led the team and the conference as did Morgan Roessler's .308 attack percentage. Maddie Zwickl was the quarterback of the offense with 1,163 assists. The Hawks had five players with over 30 service aces and led the SUNYAC with 300 aces.
Haverford is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament, having made four straight appearances from 2006-09. The Fords reached the regional final in 2007 and the regional semifinal in 2009. The volleyball team, which has won at least 20 matches for three consecutive seasons, will be making its first appearance in the tournament under Benoit.
The winner of SUNY New Paltz and Haverford will take on the winner of Eastern University and Salem College in the second round on Saturday. The host school, Christopher Newport, takes on Gallaudet University while Stevenson University and Richard Stockton College battle in the other first round matchups. The regional semifinal will be on Sunday with the regional finals, Final Four and Championship matches taking place the following weekend (Nov. 21-23).