LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall volleyball team picked up its second win against receiving votes in as many weeks as the Diplomats (7-1) handed Virginia Wesleyan (7-1) its first loss of the 2024 season on Friday evening. The Diplomats found themselves down 2-0, but rallied for the reverse sweep to defeat the Marlins by a 20-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-6 score.
Four different Diplomats finished the five-set thriller with double digit kill totals, led by Coco Shultz's 16 kills. Mya Anderson added 13 kills to her evening as she finished with a .500 hitting percentage, while Ceci Connelly and Gianna Mangiamele recorded 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Avery Grantham made it five Franklin & Marshall players with double-digit point totals as she had six kills, five blocks (two solo), and two service aces.
The first three games were all battles throughout despite the Marlins claiming the first two to put themselves on the brink of victory. The Diplomats tied the score at 19-all during the opening game on a kill from Shultz before Virginia Wesleyan won six of the final seven points. The second set featured 13 ties. The final tie fittingly enough came at 13-all, but the Diplomats had their deficit down to 24-23 before a kill from the visitors.
Following a tight conclusion to the second, the two sides were locked in another battle heading into the third. The 12th and final tie of that game came at 22-all before a service ace from Liah Perez and kill from Mangiamele got the momentum back on the Diplomats' side.
After getting its first set victory of the night, the Diplomats started to take control during the final two games. Another service ace from Perez tied the fourth set at eight-all and was part of a 5-0 run that got the Diplomats an 11-8 lead that they would not relinquish. The lead eventually grew to as large as 24-16 as back-to-back kills from Connolly forced the decisive fifth game.
The final set was all Diplomats as they hit .333 during the fifth game on their way to victory. The closest Virginia Wesleyan came during the final set was a three-all deadlock, but F&M ran off seven of the next eight points to set the score at 10-4. F&M's eventual 15-6 win in the set would mark its largest lead that the Diplomats held in the set.
In addition to her four service aces, Perez tallied a team-best 28 assists while Carly Campbell added 23 more to the winning effort. The Diplomats finished with 13 service aces in total five different players registered multiple aces throughout the night.
Franklin & Marshall's home tournament continues Saturday afternoon when the Diplomats host Clarkson (12 p.m.) and Montclair State (2:30 p.m.) in the Mayser Center. Montclair State was a 3-1 winner against Clarkson in court two action to start the opening day of the weekend tournament.
