WASHINGTON, D.C.- The (RV) Franklin & Marshall volleyball team (10-1) opened up the Worthington Classic with sweeps of hosts Gallaudet (6-5) and Mary Washington (2-10) on Friday.

Match One (vs. Gallaudet)

The Diplomats offense hit .375, while the defense totaled eight blocks in the sweep of Gallaudet (25-10, 25-21, 25-18) to open the weekend. Ceci Connolly hit .619 with 15 kills and three block assists, while Melissa Benkowitz posted 11 kills with a .321 hitting percentage. Coco Shultz led the team with 16 digs and five aces while hitting .318 with nine kills. Carly Campbelly totaled 25 assists across the three sets with nine digs, while Abby Silinski had 14 digs as libero. Mya Anderson posted five kills with a .455 hitting percentage and three block assists. Avery Grantham posted three block assists. 

The Diplomats swung .450 with eight aces in an efficient opening first set that they won, 25-10. Connolly and Benkowitz each had four kills in the set, while Shultz had four aces. Gallaudet earned an early 4-3 lead in a back-and-forth start to the game. From there, F&M used a four-point run to lead, 7-4. The Bison interrupted the run on one point before a kill and ace from Benkowitz plus a Jillian Surkis-Anderson block gave F&M a 10-5 lead and forced a timeout from the hosts. Gallaudet traded serves following the break, but F&M later reached a 19-8 lead on a 6-0 run with four aces from Shultz. The Diplomats soon won the set at 25-10 on an attack error.

The Diplomats maintained a narrow lead for much of the second set before winning, 25-21. F&M started the game with a five-point run with two Connolly kills to lead, 5-1. The Bison drew level at six-each, taking five of the next six points on three kills, a block, and a setting error. The Diplomats soon used a 4-1 run to earn an 11-8 lead. The teams traded serves over the next phase of the set, with Gallaudet drawing level with a four-point run at 14-14. F&M built their lead back up to three with consecutive kills from Shultz, Connolly, and Campbell. F&M continued to build the lead, entering the end of the set ahead, 21-16. The Bison closed the lead to two with a four-point run to force an F&M timeout at 22-20. The Diplomats regained composure, closing out the set on a Grantham-Connolly block at 25-11. 

Connolly posted six kills, while Shultz had five kills, in a competitive third set. Yet again, F&M earned an early lead in the third set, leading 5-1. Gallaudet used an attack error and two aces to close the gap to 5-4, but F&M scored six of the next eight points for an 11-6 lead, and the Bison used a timeout. Returning from the break, the hosts erased the deficit with five-straight points on three kills and two aces, tying the set at 11-11. F&M countered with four points, capping the run on a block from Connolly and Grantham. Ahead 17-13, F&M pulled away on a six-point run that included four kills from Connolly, getting within three points of securing the sweep at 22-13. Gallaudet rallied by scoring four of the next five points, but the Diplomats eventually won the set on a Shultz kill at 25-18.  

Match Two (vs. Mary Washington)

The Diplomats completed the day with a controlled sweep of Mary Washington (25-21, 25-17, 25-17). Benkowitz led the offense with 13 kills and a .435 hitting percentage. Shultz added four more aces, with nine across both matches, nine kills, and six digs. Connolly contributed 11 kills with a .286 hitting percentage. Campbell posted 21 assists and seven digs, while Liah Perez had 14 assists and seven digs. Anderson hit .500 with five kills and three block assists. Silinski again led the team in digs with nine. Surkis recorded three block assists.

The teams went back-and-forth to start set one, tying at 2-2 through 7-7. F&M claimed three of the next four points for a 10-8 lead, but Mary Washington claimed the lead again with a three-point run of their own. F&M posted three-consecutive points of their own before Mary Washington did the same to give them a 14-13 advantage. F&M took momentum over the next five serves, scoring four points from five to lead, 18-16. Yet again Mary Washington rallied to tie the set at 18-18. After trading serves one time to 19-19, F&M closed out the set with six of the last eight points, including three Benkowitz kills. 

A 5-0 start with two Connolly kills gave F&M the platform to coast to through the second set. Neither team strung together more than two consecutive points in the remainder of the set, and the lead stayed consistently around a half-a-dozen points before Benkowitz ended the second game on back-to-back kills at 25-17. 

Mary Washington opened the third set with the first two points before F&M scored the next four points, including back-to-back aces from Shultz. F&M held this slim lead in the early portion of the set before a three-point run pushed their lead to 14-9. This was followed by a stretch where F&M scored seven of eight points, including two aces from Benkowitz, for a 21-11 lead. Mary Washington kept the match alive with a 5-1 run of their own before the Diplomats ended the match on a kill from Paula Elguera at 25-17. 

Up Next

The Diplomats wrap up the Worthington Classic on Saturday, facing #18 hope at 10:00 a.m. and Mount Union at 2:00 p.m.