HAVERFORD, Pa. -The Haverford College volleyball team (11-10, 4-4 CC) took a sweep over Ursinus (15-7, 3-5 CC) in the regular season home finale at Gooding Arena, notching a victory over the Bears with set scores of 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 on Faculty Appreciation Night.
Claire Jordan had 11 kills against just four errors to lead the Fords, while Abby Holland added 10 to her ledger. Gabrielle Fontanilla notched 19 assists while Cameryn DeBlecourt added 12. Juliet Young registered 10 digs to pace Haverford in the midweek contest.
The Fords got out to a fast start in the first frame, jetting to a 14-6 lead before the Bears called for timeout looking to stabilize things a bit. Young was integral at the service line in that stretch, with Holland and Jordan delivering back-to-back kills. Ursinus rallied back to tie things at 17-17, but Haverford went back ahead 22-18 behind back-to-back kills from Jordan and a service ace from Sydney Rucker that prompted another Ursinus timeout. Down the stretch, an ace from Young and kills from Holland and Jordan sealed the set victory at 25-19.
In the second, Haverford got out to another quick 4-0 lead, but Ursinus again had a rally to tie things up at 9-9 with Haley Spotts adding back-to-back kills in the stretch. Eventually, the Fords had a big run behind a pair of service aces from Jones to pull ahead 17-12. Ursinus responded to take a brief 18-17 lead behind a block from Erin Dychdala and Noelle Smitts, but the Fords responded with a 4-0 run that was punctuated by a block from Holland and Jadyn Elliott, pulling ahead 22-17. Ursinus had one last gasp in the frame, pulling back yet again to within two, but Haverford added three consecutive points to take the 25-20 victory in the second to set up a close-out third set.
Ursinus got out to the early 9-5 advantage in the third, but with Young at the service line, the Fords responded with a 5-0 run to take the lead back at 10-9. The two teams swapped points until the Fords got out on a run to pull into a 18-14 lead following a Jones service ace. Ursinus would not go away, as the Bears rallied back within one at 20-19, but another strong performance down the stretch helped put the match away. Haverford took advantage of some late errors from the Bears and Holland finished the match with her 10th kill at 25-22.
Katie Cressman registered a match-best 15 kills for the visitors, while Ashley Kelly added a match-best 11 digs for Ursinus.
The Fords improved to 36-8 all-time against Ursinus, as the Fords have not dropped a match to the Bears since 1998. Haverford now heads to rival Swarthmore for a 2 p.m. first serve on Saturday afternoon at Tarble Pavilion as the CC playoff chase will come down to the final day of the regular season.