HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team pulled within a half game of the top spot in the Centennial Conference standings with a convincing sweep of Ursinus on Monday night. Playing a match that was originally slated for the beginning of this month, the Fords (15-8, 5-1 CC) took care of business by bookending the sweep with 25-16 victories in the opening and closing sets, sandwiched around a 25-12 game against the visiting Bears (5-15, 0-7 CC).
Six different players recorded a kill for the victors on the night, led by 17 from Meg O'Day. The Bears had no answer for O'Day on the night as she racked up those 17 kills in just 22 attempts, while committing just two attack errors. Her .682 attack percentage ranks as the third-best single match performance in program history. O'Day broke the school record two years ago when these teams met with 16 kills and no errors in 22 attempts. For good measure, she also led the team with three blocks, all of which were solo efforts.
Two big rallies in the opening set helped Haverford jump in front 1-0. Behind the service of Sara Rennert, the Fords secured the first five points. That margin basically held as the score reached 11-5. Nonetheless, Haverford stretched its lead out to nine points as early as the 17-8 score before cruising to the first set. Haverford totaled its best hitting percentage of the night in the set at .478 with 12 kills and just one error in 23 chances to start the match.
Defense was the name of the game in the second set as the Bears were limited to a negative hitting percentage with six kills and seven errors. On the offensive side of the net, it was another strong service from the Fords that got the momentum swinging in their favor. After two service points from Jeanna Kenney, Valentine Courouble stepped to the line with a 2-1 edge. By the time Ursinus earned a side out, Courouble's serves helped rack up a 12-1 edge for the home team. Haverford's lead grew to a 12-point edge, 19-7, before closing out the set.
The visiting Bears saved their best effort for the last set and held a lead as late as 11-10 in the final stanza. However, the Fords rebounded from that deficit that grew to as many as four points and scored 15 of the final 20 points to close out the Centennial Conference victory.
In addition to O'Day's kill total, Elena Garcia added seven, while Natalie Pisch and Kaylynn Mayo added five and four kills, respectively. Rennert and Courouble each had three kills over the three sets. Rennert also led the team with three of Haverford's seven service aces on the evening. Olivia Walsh and Zoe Wong evenly split the setting duties as each tallied 12 assists for the evening. Nina Mutty led the team with 10 digs on the evening, while Kenney added eight digs.
Volleyball will return to the courts this Wednesday for a quick trip over to Bryn Mawr. Wednesday's meeting with the Owls is set for a 7 p.m. start.