HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team (13-6, 4-1 CC) completed a veracious comeback as it took down the Muhlenberg College Mules (14-8, 4-3 CC), 3-2 (25-27, 22-25, 28-26, 25-12, 15-9) at the Gooding '84 Arena on Wednesday evening. Haverford has now won 23 of its 33 meetings against Muhlenberg. The Fords have lost just once to the Mules since 2001.
Senior Keri Godbe recorded her 10th double-double of the season with a match-highs in digs (24) and kills (22). Senior Meg O'Day had her fourth match of an attack percentage over .500 (.552) in the comeback thriller. The reigning Centennial Conference Player of the Year has double-figures in kills in 16 of 18 matches this season.
Trailing by many as six in the first set, the road team fought all the way back to tie the match at 16-all. After the two teams exchanged points, the Fords scored three straight to take a 20-17 lead. The Mules answered with its own spurt to tie the set again at 20. The next flurry of points had five lead changes and five ties until back-to-back errors by the Fords gave the visitors a 27-25 win.
A close second set saw Muhlenberg go on an 8-2 run to jump in front, 19-13. The Fords didn't go away as it cuts deficit to one at 23-22, leading to a Mules' timeout. After regrouping, Muhlenberg scored the next two points to win, 25-22 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was a back-and-forth battle with neither team leading by more than three points. Muhlenberg used a timeout after Haverford had a 21-19 advantage. The timeout curbed momentum as the Mules rallied to tie the set. The rest of the third stanza featured six lead changes and five ties with a kill by O'Day sublimating the win for Haverford. Head coach Michele Benoit's squad continued its road back with a 15-2 rally to end the fourth set, sending the conference bout to a deciding fifth stanza.
The fifth set proved to be no problem for Haverford as it scored 11 of the first 13 points. Muhlenberg fought off three match points, but a kill by Godbe completed the exciting five-set victory for Haverford.
Junior Valentine Courouble added her second straight double-double and fourth of the season with 13 digs and 11 kills. The junior matched her career high in digs and set a new personal best with five assists. Senior Jeanna Kenney also had a match-high 24 digs while senior Nina Mutty had 10 digs and five service aces in the win. Sophomore Zoe Wong (25) and senior Olivia Walsh (24) quarterbacked the Fords' offense with 49 combined assists.
The volleyball team improved to 3-3 in five-set matches this season. The Fords are in third place in the Centennial Conference behind Swarthmore (6-0) and Johns Hopkins (5-1). Haverford will travel to No. 2 Juniata on Friday (7 p.m.) before taking part in a tri-match vs. Thomas More (1 p.m.) and Westminster (Pa.) (3 p.m.) on Saturday. Haverford is looking for its first win over Juniata and has never faced Thomas More or Westminster (Pa.).