Volleyball Playoff Victory, Gates' Breakout Performance Voted Best Swarthmore Athletics Moments of 2010-11
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Thanks to nearly 700 votes tallied over a one-month period, Garnet fans have voted the volleyball team's Centennial Conference playoff victory over No. 1 seed Haverford as the best event of the 2010-11 season and Will Gates' 27-point performance against Clark in the Equinox Classic as the best individual performance of the 2010-11 season.
In the year's best event according to Garnet fans, the volleyball team - the No. 4 seed in the Centennial Conference playoffs - upset No. 1 seed and arch-rival Haverford 3-2 (25-20, 17-25, 20-25, 27-25, 15-8) on its home court. The win advanced the Garnet to the Centennial Conference Championship match for the first time in program history and ended the Fords' four-year reign as Centennial champions. The game also saw Genny Pezzola become just the third player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills.
The volleyball win garnered over 34 percent of the votes. The baseball team's sweep of nationally-ranked Johns Hopkins finished in second place.
In the year's best individual performance according to Swat fans, Will Gates '12 scored 27 points to help the men's basketball team rally from a 13-point deficit with just eight minutes remaining in the game to defeat Clark in the first game of the 19th Annual Equinox Classic from Haverford. The win moved the Garnet men to 3-0 for the first time since the 1996-97 season. Gates continued his stellar play throughout the 2010-11 season, scoring at least 25 points in a game on five occasions and earning All-Centennial Conference honorable mention accolades.
Gates' performance earned a staggering 42 percent of the votes. Women's soccer star Megan Colombo's record-breaking hat trick against Bryn Mawr finished second.
Coincidentally, both of the year's best performances took place in Haverford's Gooding Arena.
Thank you to all the Garnet fans that participated in this year's polls!
