MARIETTA, Ohio- In the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2018, the (RV) Franklin & Marshall volleyball team (23-7, 8-2 CC) fell in straight sets (26-28, 13-25, 23-25) in the First Round against (RV) Illinois Wesleyan.

Coco Shultz was key to the Diplomats' attack with 11 kills and a .320 hitting percentage. Gianna Mangiamele posted six kills with a .263 hitting percentage to close out her time as a Diplomat, while Bella Ganfield totaled a team-high 14 digs in her final collegiate match. Liah Perez had 16 assists, while Carly Campbell assisted 11 kills. Maile Lani Sugamura had a pair of aces. 

Momentum swung back and forth in a first set that featured five lead changes and 11 ties.The Spartans began with a 4-1 lead, but F&M retook the lead with four straight points via two Mangiamele kills and two Sugamura aces. The Diplomats claimed five of the next seven points to lead 10-6. Down 11-8, Illinois Wesleyan began an eight-point run with five kills, two aces, and a block to give the Titans a 16-11 advantage. A five-point run for F&M with a pair of Mya Anderson killed tied the set at 17-17. F&M took four of six points to draw close to set point, 23-20. Illinois Wesleyan countered with four straight points to reach set point. The Diplomats fought off the set point three times before falling to back-to-back kills to give Illinois Wesleyan the set at 28-26.

The Titans hit a match-best .387 in set two while F&M were a match-worst .063 with seven attack errors as they fell 25-13. F&M led 5-2 on a run with back-to-back Shultz kills. The Titans tied things up at 6-6 on back-to-back kills, and the teams traded points before Illinois Wesleyan claimed their first lead of the set at 9-8. F&M took the next two points on kills from Anderson and Mangiamele, but this was followed by two points for the Titans. An Anderson kill was directly followed by six-straight points for Illinois Wesleyan who now led 17-11. The teams traded serves a few times before the Titans claimed the set on seven consecutive points.

The Diplomats fought back from a 17-9 deficit in set lead in set three with a nine-point run before ultimately falling just set short of taking the set at 25-23. The Diplomats were tied at 4-4 and 7-7 early on in set three, but the Titans soon strung together an 8-1 run to give them that 17-9 lead. F&M made use of seven Illinois Wesleyan attack errors in their nine-point run which gave them a 18-17 lead. Three straight Titans kills put them back in control 20-18, but F&M tied things up by taking three of four points. Two kills for Illinois Wesleyan gave them a two-point cushion that they held via trading points to the end on a solo block. 

F&M ends 2024 marking the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2018 and the tenth appearance overall. The team's regular season winning percentage of .814 was the team's best since 2013, while a .767 overall winning percentage is the team's best since 2019. The team appeared in its 16th consecutive Centennial Conference Tournament and third consecutive tournament semifinal.