HAVERFORD, Pa. – On the second day of Haverford Invitational action, the Fords split a pair of contests, falling to Heidelberg (25-23, 25-22, 19-25,12-25, 5-15) in a noon match before returning later in the day to dispatch Delaware Valley in three straight sets (25-6, 25-12, 25-15) for their second sweep of the year. Haverford sits at 3-2 on the young season following the second day of Invitational action.
For the Fords, Maddie Becker was a standout with 15 kills and 14 digs, registering a double-double with career highs in both categories against Heidelberg. Valentine Courouble also set a career high in attacks with 51 after a 17 kill performance.
In the second match of the day, Haverford blasted past Delaware Valley. In the first set, Haverford started on an 11-0 run, taking a 25-6 victory. The Fords hit .458 in the first frame of action. Natalie Pisch, Julia Gallagher-Teske and Maddie Becker added firepower in the run with Zoe Wong serving.
The second set saw the Fords win 25-12. Delaware Valley took a 6-4 lead, but the Fords opened up a 14-7 advantage before rolling off a 10-2 run to take a 24-9 lead. Haverford registered 11 kills in the set on 25 total swings.
The third set was a bit tighter as Delaware Valley kept it close, trailing just 10-9 before Natalie Pisch went on a serving run that included a pair of aces to make the score 14-9. Haverford opened up an 18-14 lead after a Kaylynn Mayo kill and went up 22-15, a lead that would hold for the remainder of the match, with a run started by a Pisch kill and extended with a service ace by Zoe Wong and an attack error by Kourtney Campbell.
Julia Gallagher-Teske and Hailey O'Mara both set new career highs in kills with eight and seven in the match, respectively. Kendall Robison saw her first extended action, setting new career high in kills, attacks, service aces and digs.
Haverford took an early lead in the first match against Heidelberg, going up two sets to none thanks in part to an eight point run that induced two Heidelberg timeouts as Heidelberg committed an attack error or serve reception error on six straight points. Heidelberg rebounded to tie the set at 20-20 before briefly pulling ahead 21-20. Natalie Pisch delivered the final two kills of the set, handing Haverford the victory in the opening frame.
The Fords rallied in the second set after trailing 15-10. Haverford took the lead at 22-21 and made it stick as Maddie Becker delivered three of Haverford's final four points, with Pisch hammering home the final dagger to go up 2-0 with a 25-22 set victory.
In the third set, Haverford traded points with Heidelberg for much of the early going, and the score was level at 15-15. Heidelberg rattled off four straight points before a Mariah Sullivan service error gave the Fords serve. Heidelberg took control of the set at 18-16, taking a 23-17 lead as Janessa Scott recorded three kills and Sarah Parker tallied a service ace for a 23-17 lead. A Hailey O'Mara kill cut the lead to 24-18 and Zoe Wong notched a service ace to get the Fords one closer, but a blocking error ended the set in favor of Heidelberg, breathing new life into the contest for the visitors.
The hosts struggled in the fourth set, falling behind 11-5 before cutting the advantage to 14-12. From that point on, the Fords would be shutout as Heidelberg went on a 10-0 run to tie the score, sending the match to a decisive fifth set.
The first to 15 showdown went to the visitors, as Heidelberg notched nine of the opening ten points and cruised from there, completing the comeback with a 15-5 win.
Becker and Wong were named to the Haverford Invitational All-Tournament team following the match.
The Fords will return to action with a home contest against Elizabethtown on Tuesday, September 13th at Gooding '84 Arena. The match is slated to begin at 7 p.m.