HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team had a fantastic first day of the Haverford/Swarthmore Invitational with sweeps against the City College of New York Beavers (25-3, 25-6, 25-3) and the Stevenson University Mustangs (25-20, 25-19, 25-22).
The Fords had 39 kills in 58 attempts with only two errors for a sparkling .638 attack percentage against the Beavers. The .638 attack percentage set a new program match record. Senior Meg O'Day had 12 kills in 13 attempts. Freshman Natalie Pisch had nine kills while senior Keri Godbe just missed a double-double with eight kills and nine digs. Haverford had 17 service aces in the contest led by senior Nina Mutty's six. Sophomore Zoe Wong added a match-high 20 assists with four service aces. Today's match was the first time that the two teams had squared off.
Stevenson and Haverford had a closely contested first set as the first 22 points had seven ties. The Fords pulled ahead 18-13, but the Mustangs kept it close and got within one at 20-19. Kills by O'Day and Pisch gave the home team some breathing room before three attack errors by the Mustangs clinched the set.
The second set mirrored much of the previous one with the Fords jumping in front 11-10. Haverford extended its advantage to 20-12 and looked to control the set, but Stevenson crept back in it. A service ace by Stevenson's Kristen Brooks made the score 22-18 and led to a Haverford timeout. The Mustangs scored the first point after the stoppage, but O'Day had two kills and a solo block to wrap up the set victory for the Fords.
Set three followed suit like the first two sets with another tight battle. Neither team led by more than two until a service error gave Haverford a 20-17 lead. Stevenson scored three of the next four points to set the score at 21-20 before Haverford countered with its own three-point spurt. The Mustangs got within two, but O'Day closed the match with her team-high 13th kill.
O'Day finished with a .375 attack percentage, three service aces and three solo blocks in the sweep over Stevenson. Godbe had 12 kills and 8 digs while senior Jeanna Kenney had 14 digs to lead both teams. Junior Olivia Walsh (14) and Wong (13) quarterbacked the Fords' offense with 27 combined assists.
Haverford will now make the trek to conference rival Swarthmore for the second day of the invitational. The Fords will take on Carnegie Mellon (10 a.m.) and Salisbury (2 p.m.).