BALTIMORE, MD - Gettysburg College outside hitter Katie Heffner recorded 11 kills and 11 digs and outside hitter Lauren Thul added 16 kills as the #2 seed Bullets won their fifth straight Centennial Conference title with a 3-0 (30-21, 30-28, 30-28) victory over #4 seed Franklin & Marshall at Johns Hopkins University's Larry Goldfarb Gymnasium in the 2005 Centennial Conference title match.

As the tournament champion, Gettysburg (20-12, 8-2 Centennial Conference) earns the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA Division III tournament, with the regional round hosted at #2 nationally ranked Juniata College on November 10-12.

The Bullets took the lead in the match early as Gettysburg built a 7-1 lead before the Diplomats called a timeout to regroup in game one.

Following the break, F&M (21-9, 8-2 Centennial Conference) chipped away at the Gettysburg lead as a service error and a hitting error by Shannan Smith pulled F&M to within 7-3 before outside hitter Nicole Kushman (Jr., Chalfont, PA/CB West) connected on back-to-back service aces to push F&M to within 7-5. Gettysburg pushed the lead back to three points at 8-5, but the Diplomats fought back to trail by 8-7 following a kill by outside hitter Margot Phelan (Fr., Ellicott City, MD/Centennial).

However, Gettysburg reeled off a 5-0 run fueled by three F&M hitting errors to take a 13-7 lead. Franklin & Marshall fought back to trail by five at 14-9, but the Bullets went on a 7-2 run to lead 21-11 as Gettysburg went onto a 30-21 victory in game one.

Franklin & Marshall appeared to gain some early momentum in game two, but the Bullets rallied as the teams seesawed to a 21-20 F&M lead tie before the Bullets went on a 5-0 run courtesy a service error, three kills and a hitting error to take a 24-20 lead.

The Diplomats managed a 4-1 rally to move within one point at 25-24 as Kushman slammed a kill and Phelan knocked down three kills to force the Gettysburg bench to call a timeout. After the break, the Bullets inched their lead to 26-24 before a kill by outside hitter Alexis Dansky (Jr., Yardley, PA/The George School) and a hitting error knotted the match at 26-26.

Gettysburg scored the next two points to go back in front, but back-to-back kills again knotted the match at 28-28. The Bullets closed out the game with a mini-run as a swing by Kushman was ruled long and outside hitter Megan McConville knocked down a kill to close out a 30-28 game two win.

Game three was all Bullets in the early going as Gettysburg built a 5-0 lead before Franklin & Marshall evened the score at 15-15. Neither team could manage more than a two-point lead through the remainder of the game as F&M went in front 20-18, but Gettysburg rallied to tie the score.

Tied 25-25, Heffner hit a kill of a block to put the Bullets ahead 26-25 before Thul blocked and put back an F&M kill attempt to give the Orange and Blue a 27-25 lead.

Middle hitter Susan Taylor (So., The Woodlands, TX/John Cooper) and Jackie Skibbie (Sr., Darby, PA/Merion Mercy) combined to stuff Thul to move to within 27-26 as the teams traded points to a 29-28 Bullets lead before F&M recorded a blocking error for the deciding point.

For F&M, Phelan finished with 13 kills to lead the team, while Skibbie added three service aces, 27 assists and 18 digs.

The match marked the second meeting of the season between the two programs as the Diplomats handled the Bullets 3-2 (30-32, 30-24, 30-23, 21-30, 15-13) at home in the Mayser Center on October 4.

The victory snapped a five-match losing streak against Gettysburg that dated back to a 3-1 win (15-11, 15-5, 10-15, 15-5) victory in the 2000 season. Historically, F&M is now 10-32 all-time against Gettysburg.

Franklin & Marshall (21-9, 8-2 Centennial Conference) will now await word from the NCAA selection committee and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Mid-Atlantic Region selection committees regarding possible bids to either organization's postseason tournament. The NCAA at-large bids will be announced on the evening November 6, while the ECAC berths will be announced on November 7.