LANCASTER, Pa.- The Franklin & Marshall volleyball team (22-6, 9-1 Centennial Conference) saw two players earn AVCA All-Region 5 selections, as Ceci Connolly was named to the first team and Liah Perez earned her third-consecutive honorable mention selection. Mary Kate Salko '01 is the Regional Coach of the Year for the second time leading the Diplomats.

Sophomore outside hitter Ceci Connolly is a first-time AVCA All-Region 5 player after being named to the first team. Earlier this week, she earned her first All-Centennial Conference selection with a spot on the first team. Among Centennial Conference attackers in 2025, she ranks fifth in hitting percentage (.309), seventh in kills per set (3.21), and seventh in points per set (3.53). 

Senior setter Liah Perez is now a three-time AVCA All-Region 5 Honorable Mention setter. Earlier this week, she earned back-to-back All-Centennial Conference First-Team selections, marking three consecutive seasons on all-conference teams. She's been pivotal to F&M's attack in setting and at the service line, as her conference-leading 0.65 aces per set ranks 44th in Division III. She also ranks second in the conference in assists per set (5.80). 

Mary Kate Salko '01 was named the AVCA Region 5 Coach of the Year following the team's 22-6, 9-1 Centennial Conference performance to date. It's the second time she's won the award as head coach. Earlier this week, Salko, Chris Salko, and Caroline Boehm were named the Centennial Conference's Coaching Staff of the Year. The 2025 Diplomats will be playing in their 11th NCAA Tournament, and their fifth with Salko as head coach. It marks the first time the program has appeared in back-to-back tournaments since the team's run of five consecutive appearances from 1996 through 2000, during which she was a setter for the Diplomats (1997-2000). Across Division III, the Diplomats rank 13th in assists per set (12.55), 15th in kills per set (13.42), and 19th in aces per set (2.88), leading the conference in aces per set. They also rank second in the conference in assists per set, kills per set, hitting percentage (.233), points per set (17.82), opponent hitting percentage (.131), and third in digs per set (16.76). The team's .786 winning percentage to date ranks as the third best during Salko's tenure as head coach, and it's the highest since 2013's .800 winning percentage. The 9-1 Centennial Conference record is the team's best since they were 9-1 and Centennial Conference Tournament finalists in 2019. 

For the 11th time in program history, the Franklin & Marshall volleyball team will be playing in the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Tournament, facing (RV) Williams in the first round on Thursday, November 20, at 4:30 p.m. at the Cambridge, Massachusetts regional on the campus of MIT. Franklin & Marshall booked a spot in the tournament following a 22-6, 9-1 Centennial Conference campaign that culminated in the team's first Centennial Conference Tournament Championship appearance since 2022, falling in four sets to No. 9 Johns Hopkins. The Diplomats earned back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, which is the first time the program's appeared in the tournament in consecutive seasons following the team's five-year run from 1996 through 2000.