GETTYSBURG, Pa.- The Franklin & Marshall volleyball team (10-6, 3-0 Centennial Conference) completed a reverse sweep on the road over Gettysburg (12-6, 1-2 Centennial Conference) on Wednesday evening.
Ceci Connolly hit .476 with a career-best 22 kills to lead the Diplomat attack.
Melissa Benkowitz led the side in digs (18) and service aces (4) with 11 kills.
Avery Grantham totaled 13 kills with a .250 hitting percentage.
Lily Harmon recorded a career high in two stats including assists (20) and digs (9). Melody Buzer recorded 17 assists with two aces.
Abby Silinski recorded ten digs with two aces, while Mia Macherino had 13 digs and three aces.
The Bullets drew a quick 4-1 lead via three kills to open set one. F&M closed the gap to 5-3 with kills from Benkowitz and Connolly, but the Bullets scored seven unanswered on a run with four attack errors from the Diplomats. After trading serves, they got within four points on a 5-0 run with 1.5 blocks from Kelly plus a kill and block assist from Connolly. Gettysburg called timeout and returned from the intermission by scoring four of the next points to extend their advantage to 18-12. A later 4-0 run got them within two points of the set win, but F&M found some late momentum with a kill from Campbell and two aces from Benkowitz. Gettysburg was able to close out the run, however, on a service error and set-point kill.
Gettysburg opened set two with another 4-1 advantage in the early stages, maintaining a modest lead up to 7-3, scoring all seven of their points on kills. A kill from Grantham kicked off a 5-2 run for F&M where she led the way with a pair of kills, and the Diplomats closed within a point at 9-8. The Bullets answered back with a 7-1 run to push their lead to 16-9. Gettysburg continued to consistently pull away, making use of a pair of three-point runs to stretch their lead to 23-12 before winning at 25-13 on a setting error.
After a back-and-forth opening to the third set, F&M gained the first multi-point lead on a 3-0 run with two kills from Grantham to lead 5-3. Gettysburg broke that run with a kill, but F&M countered with a 5-0 run with a pair of aces and one kill from Benkowitz plus two kills from Grantham to give F&M a 10-4 lead. Gettysburg took advantage of a run of attack errors from the Diplomats that closed the advantage to 10-8. Anderson stopped the four-point run with a kill, but the Bullets swung control of the set back their way by scoring five of the next six points to lead, 13-12. After a set-tying kill from Connolly, Gettysburg tallied three points from four to push ahead 18-15. F&M closed back within a point before falling behind to a 3-0 run with two attack errors from the Diplomats. F&M called a timeout, and rallied back with a set-tying 4-0 run led by two aces with
Abby Silinski at the service lines. The sides traded points up to 23-23 when F&M closed out the set on a 3-0 run with two kills from Connolly and an ace from Mascherino.
Three early kills from Connolly gave F&M an early 4-1 lead in set four. While the Bullets claimed two-straight points on attack errors, F&M rallied back with seven unanswered points to lead, 11-3. Gettysburg controlled the next phase of the set, scoring six of the next eight points to close the gap to 13-9. After trading serves, F&M went on a 5-0 run with two Connolly kils to lead, 19-10. F&M maintained the gap the rest of the way, winning at 25-17 on a kill from
Jillian Surkis to send the match to a fifth set.
The Diplomats kept up the momentum, with an opening 3-0 run with a solo block from
Gretchen Eichelzer and a kill from Connolly. F&M traded points up to a 5-2 lead with kills from Eichelzer and Connolly, while the Bullets countered with two-straight points. The sides traded points up to F&M leading 9-8. At this point, F&M scored four-straight points including two aces and one kill from Mascherino for a 13-8 advantage. F&M countered back-to-back kills from the Bullets with back-to-back kills from Connolly to end the match and complete the comeback.
F&M returns on Saturday, October 17 to face #22 Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.Â
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