GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall volleyball team picked up its second win of the season following a sweep of Messiah at Gettysburg's Battlefield Classic on Saturday. The second victory of the year was also the Diplomats' (2-1) second sweep as they dispatched the Falcons by a 25-19, 27-25, 25-21 score. That win came after F&M gave an Eastern squad that was receiving votes in the national polls all it could handle in a thrilling five-set match (25-21, 22-25, 25-16, 12-25, 15-10).
Eastern 3, F&M 2 (25-21, 22-25, 25-16, 12-25, 15-10)
Coco Shultz led the Diplomats in kills during both of their matches on Saturday, starting out with 14 against the Eagles. She was joined in double figures by returning All-American Gianna Mangiamele's 10 kills during the back-and-forth match.
Franklin & Marshall was tied with Eastern at one game each after the first two sets. The Diplomats led for the majority of the second game, but found themselves facing an 18-15 deficit late in the set. Nevertheless, Liah Perez had a pair of service aces during a 4-0 run that ultimately tipped the momentum back to the Diplomats. She also had a kill to put F&M on match point before an attack error from Eastern.
Looking to rally from a 2-1 deficit after the third game, F&M put together the most dominant set from either team as they hit .571, with 12 kills and no errors in 21 attempts during the fourth game. The Diplomats were still rolling early in the fifth set as they jumped out to an 8-4 lead before Eastern scored six straight points to take the lead in the tiebreaking set. A kill from Ceci Connelly got the match back within a point before the Eagles rolled off the next four to clinch the victory.
Perez's two big service aces in the second set highlighted an overall strong service match from the Diplomats who registered 14 aces. Carly Campbell led those efforts with four, while Mya Anderson had three service aces in addition to seven kills. Perez and Campbell were the team's setting leaders with 20 and 17 helpers, respectively. Perez also added 10 digs to lead the team in that category.
F&M 3, Messiah 0 (25-19, 27-25, 25-21)
The Diplomats rebounded from their first defeat of the season with another sweep during the second match on Saturday behind four players who finished with at least five kills. Shultz led those efforts with 10 kills, finishing with 24 total over the two matches. Rei Baker (nine kills), Mangiamele (seven kills), and Anderson (five kills) were major impact players on the attack while the Diplomats added a season-best six blocks.
Franklin & Marshall trailed just once during the opening set and was never behind in the third to bookend its closing match of the weekend. Messiah was leading 18-12 during the second game, but the Diplomats won nine of the next 13 points to tie the match at 21-all. The teams traded the next eight points as the score remained deadlocked at 25-all before Campbell capitalized on the Diplomats' first game point of that set with a service ace.
Campbell was one of four players who finished with a double figure dig total (10), adding 11 assists for her first career double-double. In addition to leading the offense, Shultz added a team-best 12 digs, with Bella Ganfield (11 digs) and Mikayla Smith (10 digs) also turning in strong defensive performances.
After starting the opening weekend of the season with two sweeps, volleyball will next return to competition on Tuesday, September 7 at 7 p.m. when the Diplomats make the trip to York (Pa.) for a matchup with the Spartans.
