Volleyball Falls Short in Epic Battle Against the Diplomats, 3-2

SWARTHMORE, Pa. - In a rematch of last year's Centennial Conference championship game, the Swarthmore volleyball team's (13-4, 1-1 CC) shot at revenge came up just short as the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats (5-7, 3-0 CC) outlasted the Garnet in five sets, 3-2 (27-25, 25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 15-13) on Wednesday night in Tarble Pavilion.

Neither team disappointed its fans as the much anticipated rematch between the Conference foes was hard fought battle right from the start.

Swarthmore led throughout most of the first set and saw its biggest lead at 21-17 but the Dips fought back to tie it up and eventually take the set in extra points 27-25.

The second set started out much like the first but it was a 10-2 run that led the Diplomats to the second set victory.

Playing on its heels, Swarthmore dug deep in the third set, taking that four point, 21-17 lead again late in the set but this time closed it out with three straight points to stretch the match to a fourth set.

The fourth set saw an unbelievable 10 ties and five lead changes but it was senior Genny Pezzola (6) and sophomore Maggie Duszyk (5) that came up big for Swat combining for 11 kills in the set. 

Duszyk closed out the fourth set with a big kill to force a fifth and final set.

The drama continued in the fifth set with even more back and forth play that saw seven ties in the shortened set.

Swarthmore took an 11-9 lead thanks to a big service ace from junior Allison Coleman before the Dips would come out of a timeout to score five straight points to go up 14-11. 

The Garnet made it interesting, scoring the next to points but F&M's Julie Harvey closed it out for the win.  Harvey led the game with 27 kills.

Despite the loss, Swat put up big numbers as Pezzola and Duszyk each blasted 17 kills in the match.  A career high for Duszyk.

Four Garnet players tallied double-digit digs on defense with senior Hillary Santana leading the way with a game-high 33 kills.  Pezzola followed with 17, sophomore Danielle Sullivan had 15 and Coleman picked up 12.

The Swarthmore volleyball team faces another challenge on Saturday when it hosts Conference foe Johns Hopkins.  Play is set to begin at 1:00 PM.