SWARTHMORE, Pa.- The Franklin & Marshall volleyball team (21-5, 9-1 Centennial Conference) earned a pivotal win at Saturday's Swarthmore tri-match, defeating hosts Swarthmore to secure a Centennial Conference Tournament first-round bye before concluding the regular season in a three-set loss to non-conference opponents No. 16 Virginia Wesleyan. 

Match One (vs. Swarthmore)

A four-set win (25-17, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21) against hosts Swarthmore completed a 9-1 Centennial Conference slate, earning the Diplomats the second seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament and a first-round bye.

Coco Shultz led the team with 19 kills while hitting .308 plus 13 digs. Melissa Benkowitz led the team with 17 digs alongside 14 kills. Liah Perez and Carly Cambell shared setting duties, as Campbell provided 24 assists and Perez posted 22 assists with 12 digs. Mya Anderson hit .400 with seven kills and two solo blocks. Abby Silinski posted 14 digs and a team-best two aces. 

F&M began the first set with a 3-1 lead before the Garnet took control with four-straight points to lead, 5-3. The Diplomats earned the lead with three-straight points that included two Shultz kills, but the Garnet claimed the lead again on back-to-back Diplomats attack errors. With Swarthmore ahead 7-6, the teams traded serves up to the Garnet leading, 12-10. F&M scored the next three points to claim a one-point lead, and the teams traded serves up to a 15-15 tie. F&M took full control of the set, scoring the next six points on a run with a kill and solo block from Benkowitz for a 21-15 lead. The Diplomats closed the set on a three-point run with a Paula Elguera set-point kill at 25-17. 

The Diplomats kept momentum high, opening the second game with a 9-2 lead on a run that featured three kills from Shultz. Swarthmore closed the lead by scoring six of the next seven points, putting F&M's advantage at 10-8. Yet again, however, the Diplomats pulled away with a 7-2 run that featured three kills from Benkowitz and two from Shultz. F&M pushed the lead up to ten points with a 4-0 run, putting the advantage at 21-11. F&M traded points the rest of the way, confirming the second set on a Garnet setting error. 

The Garnet stayed alive, controlling the pace for much of a competitive third set that they won, 25-23. They began the set with a 7-3 lead on a run with four kills and an ace. They soon pushed their lead to 12-6 thanks to a three-point run. F&M responded with a 3-0 run with two Benkowitz kills, but the Garnet canceled that with three points of their own to now lead, 15-9. They added a few points to their lead, holding a 21-13 advantage entering the end of the set. At this point, the Diplomats fought back in hopes of completing the sweep, scoring seven of the next eight points, including two Benkowitz kills plus a kill and ace from Shultz, to reduce the lead to 22-20. The sides traded serves a couple of times, with the Garnet reaching set point at 24-21. F&M fought off set point twice before the Garnet closed the set at 25-23 on a block. 

After a 2-0 start for Swarthmore, the Diplomats scored five in a row for a 5-2 lead. Swarthmore reduced the lead to one, scoring three of the next four points. This was followed by yet another five-point run from F&M that featured two kills from Anderson. With the lead at 11-5, the teams traded serves until the Garnet scored three-straight points to put the lead at 14-11. The Diplomats followed this by expanding the lead with a six-point run, putting the advantage at 20-12. The Garnet fought off the end of the set, using a 6-1 run to put F&M's lead at 22-19. The Diplomats scored the next two points on a Benkowitz kill and Paula Elguera block to reach match point. The Garnet fought off the end of the match twice before the Diplomats concluded matters with a Benkowitz kill. 

Match Two (vs. No. 16 Virginia Wesleyan)

The Diplomats ended the regular season with a non-conference match against No. 22 Virginia Wesleyan, falling in three sets (14-25, 17-25, 19-25).

Silinski had a team-high 13 digs in the match. In attack Benkowitz posted ten kills with eight digs, while Shultz recorded nine kills and seven digs. Ceci Connolly had seven kills with a solo block and one block assist. Perez had 16 assists with five digs, while Campbell posted ten assists with a team-high two aces. 

The Diplomats erased a couple of early leads in set one, earning a 2-1 advantage, falling behind 3-2, then reclaiming a 5-3 lead with a three-point run. The Marlins responded again, reclaiming the lead with three-straight kills. This was followed by back-to-back points for the Diplomats, to put F&M ahead, 7-6. The Marlins claimed the lead for good thanks to a 6-1 run, giving them a 13-8 lead. The teams traded serves up to F&M trailing 16-13. At this stage, Virginia Wesleyan closed the set with a 9-1 run that featured five kills and three aces, winning 25-14. 

The Marlins went ahead directly in the second set, scoring the first three points on two kills and a block. Behind 6-2, F&M scored four straight points on a run with both of Campbell's aces. The teams traded serves once before the Marlins scored four of five points to lead 11-8. They extended their lead to 17-11 and maintained this margin the rest of the way, winning 25-17. 

A kill from Connolly and ace from Benkowitz opened the third set, and the Diplomats soon pushed their early lead to 6-3. The Marlins stormed ahead, scoring seven-consecutive points for a 10-6 lead. They kept momentum high, following that with a 6-3 run to now lead, 16-9. The teams traded points up to a 21-13 scoreline. The Diplomats rallied late on, scoring five of six points to close the deficit to 22-18. The Marlins regained composure, however, ending the set with three of the final points including a match-point block. 

Up Next

The Diplomats get a bye from Tuesday's Centennial Conference Tournament First-Round matchups before facing the highest remaining seed from those matches (#3 Haverford vs. #6 Dickinson, #4 Swarthmore vs. #5 Gettysburg) in Friday evening's semifinal round. More information on Friday's match will be shared in a preview later this week.