LANCASTER, PA - Setter Jackie Skibbie (Sr., Darby, PA/ Merion Mercy) and outside hitter Margot Phelan (Fr., Ellicott City, MD/ Centennial) led #4 seed Franklin & Marshall College to a 3-2 (30-22, 29-31, 30-25, 28-30, 15-10) victory over visiting #5 seed Swarthmore College at the Mayser Center in the first round of the 2005 Centennial Conference Championship playoffs.

For the Diplomats (20-8, 8-2 Centennial Conference), Skibbie recorded 68 assists, four kills, 14 digs and three blocks (two solo, one assist), while Phelan chipped in 27 kills, 22 digs, two blocks and one service ace on the night as F&M won its 20th match of the season.

Franklin & Marshall came out firing in the first game building a 6-1 lead before pushing the margin to 16-8. Swarthmore (13-15, 6-4 Centennial Conference) failed to overcome the eight-point deficit as the Diplomats rolled to a 30-22 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Swarthmore tied the match in the next game as the lead was exchanged 18 times before the Garnet edged ahead for a 31-29 victory.

The third game saw the Garnet take the lead midway through before the Diplomats knotted the score at 24-24. Pulling ahead 25-24, F&M's Rebecca Zeigler (Sr., Manchester, PA/Northeastern) built the lead to two points by slamming a kill for4 a 26-24 margin as the Diplomats tacked on two more points on their service run to go ahead 28-24 and hold on for a 30-25 victory to pull to within one game of ending the match and advancing to the semifinals.

However, the Garnet rallied in a seesaw game four which saw 11 ties before Swarthmore took a 29-27 lead. Franklin & Marshall pulled to within 29-28, but the Garnet managed to finish off the game to knot the match at 2-2 and force a decisive game five.

In the best of 15 game, Phelan dominated the Garnet recording seven kills to power her team to a 15-10 win, a 3-2 match victory and a spot in the Centennial Conference semifinals.

The first five game match and the first playoff match in the history of the F&M-Swarthmore series, it marked Franklin & Marshall's 16th straight victory over the Garnet dating back to a 3-0 (15-6, 15-9, 15-12) loss at Swarthmore on September 16, 1989. In addition, the victory keeps F&M's undefeated streak versus Swarthmore at the Mayser Center alive as the Garnet has not defeated the Diplomats in Lancaster since a 2-0 (15-9, 15-7) victory on September 20, 1986.

The victory marks F&M's second of the season versus Swarthmore as the Diplomats recorded a 3-0 (30-27, 30-26, 30-12) win on September 21 in the Mayser Center.

Franklin & Marshall will continue the season on November 5 at #1 seed Johns Hopkins University (23-5, 9-1 CC) in the semifinals of the 2005 Centennial Conference Playoffs at 2:30 p.m.

Prior to the F&M-JHU match, #2 seed Gettysburg College (18-12, 8-2 CC) will take on #3 Haverford College (18-8, 8-2 CC) at noon. The winners of the semifinal matches will meet on November 6 at Hopkins in the championship match set for a 1:00 p.m. start time.

Historically, the F&M-Hopkins matchup marks the third straight year the two programs will clash in the semifinals as the #3 seed Blue Jays upset Franklin & Marshall 3-2 (30-21, 30-23, 27-30, 23-30, 15-13) in the 2004 Centennial Conference semifinals hosted by Gettysburg College before falling to the Bullets in the title match.

The loss marked the second straight season Hopkins knocked F&M out of the CC playoffs as the Blue Jays upended F&M 3-2 (30-19, 23-30, 30-26, 26-30, 15-6) in the opening round of the 2003 Centennial Conference playoffs also hosted by Gettysburg before falling to the Bullets in the title match.

In 2002, the Diplomats downed Hopkins 3-1 (23-30, 30-25, 30-19, 30-22) at Gettysburg in the semifinals before falling to the Bullets 3-2 (30-25, 27-30, 30-26, 27-30, 19-17) in the title match.

The last time Franklin & Marshall and Johns Hopkins met at a partisan site for a CC playoff match came on November 4, 2000 as the Diplomats defeated the Blue Jays 3-1 (8-15, 15-5, 15-10, 15-5) at the Mayser Center behind 41 assists, six kills, eight digs and two blocks from setter Mary Kate Boland '01 to win the Centennial Conference title.

Boland, now F&M's head coach, will attempt to become the first Franklin & Marshall alumna to lead the Diplomats to a conference title in any sport and the first to guide the team to a title as a player and a coach at Hopkins this weekend.

Directions to Johns Hopkins and lodging information in Baltimore are available on the Centennial Conference website at www.centennial.org/championships/volleyball/