LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall volleyball team opened its 2024 season with a 3-0 home sweep of Elizabethtown on Friday evening. The Diplomats (1-0) defeated their local foes by a 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 score to win their sixth consecutive season opener.
Gianna Mangiamele and Coco Shultz both hit over .350 throughout the victory and led the team with nine kills each. Overall, 10 different Diplomats finished with a kill as the team put down 43 kills in 115 attempts while limiting Elizabethtown to a .089 hitting percentage. Liah Perez and Carly Campbell put the offense in motion all night with 19 and 14 assists, respectively. Both of F&M's setters finished with double-doubles as Perez tallied 12 assists, while Campbell added 10 more.
The Diplomats took control of the opening set right from the start as they raced out to a 9-2 lead behind strong services from Perez, Melissa Benkowitz, and Mya Anderson. Elizabethtown closed the gap to 12-8, but eight straight service points from Shultz fueled F&M's 1-0 advantage.
The second set saw the Blue Jays jump out to an 8-2 lead before the Diplomats rallied and eventually tied the score at 19-all. That was the first of four tied scores during the closing points of the set before a kill from Anderson and attack error from the visitors gave the Diplomats a 2-0 lead with a 25-23 second set victory.
Even more impressive than its first set start, Franklin & Marshall was up 12-2 behind the service games of Benkowitz and Anderson as it looked to close out the sweep in front of the home crowd. The Diplomats were on the verge of victory at 24-16 before Elizabethtown dug in for the final points. Despite the visitors closing the gap to 24-21, another kill from Anderson closed out the season-opening sweep. In addition to a strong game on the attack, the Diplomats racked up 11 service aces as Anderson, Shultz, and Benkowitz each finished with three aces.
Looking to back up its strong performance on opening night, volleyball will now head to Gettysburg on Saturday for a pair of matches against Eastern (1 p.m.) and Messiah (3 p.m.).
