HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford volleyball team was defeated by Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday night, falling in three sets in a Centennial Conference match at Gooding '84 Arena on the Haverford campus. Set scores for the match were 21-25, 25-23, 17-25, 15-25. The Diplomats are now 10-5 (2-1 Centennial) while Haverford sits at 6-8 (0-3 Centennial) in defeat.
Valentine Courouble had 16 kills for Haverford. Zoe Wong tallied 29 assists and Sara Matsumura had 23 digs in the four-setter. The Fords out-blocked the Diplomats, tallying six block assists and a block solo from Courouble. Kaylynn Mayo and Wong each posted three service aces.
The first set was a back-and-forth battle between the conference foes after Haverford was forced to play catch up. The Fords cut the lead to 19-17 as Courouble, making her return to the lineup after injury, forced down a kill and Grace Polisano committed an attack error. The Fords made the defecit just one at just 20-19 after a Zoe Wong service ace, leading to a Franklin & Marshall timeout. Natalie Pisch tied the score at 20-20 to complete the comeback, and the Fords made it 21-21 after a Polisano service error. From the 21-21 mark, however, the Diplomats went on a 4-0 run with Ellie Ezekiel tallying three of the final four points with kills for a set one victory.
In set two, Haverford hit an impressive .324, taking a 25-23 win with a spirited stretch. The two squads were deadlocked at 22-22 after a block from Elena Garcia and Julia Gallagher-Teske got a vocal home crowd energized. The Fords took a 23-22 lead on a service ace from Maddie Becker and a second block from Garcia and Gallagher-Teske put the Fords on the brink of tying the contest. Matsumura delivered a service ace to give Haverford the set win, capping an impressive string of offensive and defensive prowess.
Haverford hit just .143 in the third set, falling 25-17 after a 7-0 run from the visitors put things out of reach midway through the set. In the fourth and final set, Haverford trailed 10-5 early before climbing back to cut the defecit to just 11-10 after Courouble again punched down a kill. The visitors rallied for a 5-0 run to restore a 16-10 lead and a 6-0 run to go on the doorstep of victory at 24-14. After a service error gave Haverford life, Cassie Garison finished the contest with a kill.
Ezekiel (16) and Polisano (11) led the Diplomats in kills while Mary Leneweaver (18 digs) led four in double-digits in the category. Allison Edelstein had 37 assists and Sarah Landry registered five service aces.
The Fords will next be in action on Saturday, October 1. The action gets underway at noon as Haverford takes on conference foe Gettysburg. The tri-match action also includes a Fords match with Cabrini slated for 4:00 p.m.