Game Notes

The (RV) Diplomats (23-5, 8-2 CC) concluded the regular season with a 1-1 week to Centennial Conference opponents, beating McDaniel on Wednesday before falling at home to #3 Johns Hopkins. Mary Kate Salko and Chris Salko earned their 400th win as a coaching staff with the win over McDaniel on Wednesday. Concluding the regular season, the Diplomats posted the program's best regular season winning percentage (.815) since 2013, while they completed their third-straight 8-2 Centennial Conference campaign. F&M are the third seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament, and they are slated to face second seed Swarthmore on Friday, November 15, in the Semifinal after a First Round win over Ursinus. 

Last Week 

Franklin & Marshall went 1-1 to conclude the 2024 regular season, earning a three-set win at McDaniel (25-10, 25-19, 25-20) on Wednesday before falling at home to #3 Johns Hopkins (29-27, 25-23, 25-15) on Saturday. 

Against McDaniel, Gianna Mangiamele had nine kills with a .316 hitting percentage, while Liah Perez assisted 17 times with two aces. Bella Ganfield totaled 14 digs across the third sets, while Avery Grantham had four block assists. 

Mangiamele again led F&M's attack against the Blue Jays with 13 kills and a .357 hitting percentage. Perez had 19 assists with an ace. Grantham hit .385 with seven kills and three block assists. 

Last Time vs. Ursinus

F&M earned the program's 39th straight win over the Bears with a four-set win (25-27, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19) hosting Ursinus at the Mayser Gymnasium in October. Mangiamele hit .452 with 18 kills in the win, while Grantham hit .611 with 13 kills and a team-high five aces. Liah Perez assisted 27 times, while Carly Campbell had 22 assists. Melissa Benkowitz led the team with 13 digs. Mya Anderson had one solo block and four block assists.

F&M reached match point against Ursinus at 24-18, but the Bears took the set with eight straight points. F&M broke a 15-15 deadlock by taking eight of nine points to reach 23-16. The Bears disrupted a four-point run with a kill followed by kills from Anderson and Campbell to end the set. Set three saw the Diplomats hit .458 with 14 kills and just three errors. F&M pulled away early, holding leads of 12-4 and 22-10 before taking the set at 25-13. F&M led 13-10 in set four before taking four straight points, including three straight Mangiamele kills. The Diplomats traded points to match point, earning the win on another Mangiamele kill. The full recap is available here.

Ursinus Team Preview

The sixth-seeded Bears (14-10, 5-5 CC) earned the final spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament, marking the program's first appearance in the tournament. The team wrapped up the regular season with three-straight wins, including a straight-set win over Bryn Mawr (25-19, 25-13, 25-13) in their finale on Wednesday evening. Muhlenberg's loss to Dickinson on Saturday confirmed the Bears' spot in the playoffs. 

Reena Robinson led Ursinus with 11 kills and a .478 hitting percentage against Bryn Mawr. Caroline Sherman had ten kills, four digs, and three aces for her seventh-straight match with at least ten kills. Erin Dychdala totaled 14 digs with 11 digs. The team hit .265 with 14 aces across the match. 

Rachel Bernard ranks fifth in the conference with 0.59 aces per set, while she is seventh among Centennial setters, with 5.13 assists per set. Sherman has the fourth-most kills per set (3.07), while Emma Illovsky is seventh in digs per set (3.55). 

Last Time vs. Swarthmore

F&M saw a seven-match winning streak and a 7-0 start to Centennial Conference competition come to a close in a four-set loss to Swarthmore (25-18, 18-25, 23-25, 18-25) last month. Mikayla Smith posted a career-high five aces, while Ceci Connolly had a team-best nine kills. Avery Grantham contributed five block assists and three aces, and Carly Campbell contributed one solo block, four block assists, and 12 assists. Liah Perez had a team-best 18 assists, and Bella Ganfield provided 14 digs. 

F&m responded by a Swarthmore 5-0 run in set one with a five-point run of their own to go ahead 9-7. The Garnet tied things again, followed by F&M claiming five of six points. A five-point run point things at 21-14, with the teams trading serves to set point. The Garnet pushed ahead 8-3 in set two, with F&M getting back within a point a 5-1 run. The Garnet pulled awayto a 20-13 lead through the middle of the set. F&M closed the gap with a 4-1 run that was immediatly followed by a 4-1 Garnet run to end the set. Set three was tied 8-8 early on, with F&m taking three of four points to claim a slim lead. Swarthmore used a seven-point run to go ahead 16-11, but this was directly followed by F&M reclaiming the lead on a 7-0 run. F&M's lead fell to three kills and a block from Swarthmore who went ahead 21-19 and held the gap through to the end of the set. The Diplomats were ahead 9-7 in set four, but Swarthmore took eight of the next ten points to go ahead 15-11, and they didn't concede the lead to earn the match win. The full recap is available here.

Swarthmore Team Preview

The second seed Garnet (14-10, 5-5 CC) have featured in ever Centennial Conference Tournament since 2014, and they earned the program's fifth-straight trip to the semifinal. They hosted two Centennial Conference matches last week to conclude the regular season, defeating Washington College (25-14, 25-21, 25-22) in straight sets on Wednesday before falling to Haverford (22-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 12-15) in five sets last Saturday.

The sweep of Washington College was Swarthmore's tenth of the season, as they held the Shorewomen to a .056 hitting percentage. Alexia Enache posted ten kills, five digs, and three blocks. Isabel Adam had nine kills and three digs, while Keira Miles contributed eight kills. Emily Sun had 15 assists with ten digs, while Madeline Mountcastle had 13 assists, 11 digs, and three aces. 

In the five-set loss to Haverford, Adam had 18 kills, while Sun posted a career-high 38 assists. Melissa Eyer posted 27 digs. Enache and Miles each posted 14 kills.

Enache is second in the conference in kills per set (3.40) and first in points per set (3.90), while Sun is averaging ths sixth-most assists per set (5.36). Eyer is second in digs per set (4.38), Mountcastle is ninth in aces per set (0.51), and Zindzhi Montgomery is tenth in blocks per set (0.72). The Garnet have the conference's fourth-best hitting percentage (.202) and second-most digs per set (15.61).

F&M Individuals in Centennial Conference Top 10

Hitting Percentage
5. Avery Grantham (.340)
7. Gianna Mangiamele (.309)
10. Mya Anderson (.290)

Kills/Set
5. Gianna Mangiamele (3.03)

Assists/Set
3. Liah Perez (6.34)
8. Carly Campbell (5.00)

Service Aces/Set
7. Liah Perez (0.55)

Blocks/Set
7. Avery Grantham (0.88)

Points/Set
7. Gianna Mangiamele (3.36)
10. Coco Shultz (3.28)