By Austin Allen
Elm Staff Writer
The Franklin & Marshall Diplomats won three out of four sets of a Centennial Conference Volleyball match up to come away with a 3-1 victory over the Washington College Shorewomen on Senior Day at Cain Athletic Center. The Diplomats improved to 17-3 overall and 8-0 in the Centennial, while the Shorewomen fell to 7-16 and 1-6 respectively. The sets were 25-9, 25-27, 25-22, and 22-20.
In the first set, things started off rocky for the Shorewomen, as the Diplomats hit .348 and served up seven aces. Three of the seven aces came straight from opponent Carlita Bozzo. The Diplomats came out on fire, going up 7-1 in the first couple of minutes.
Two late digs by Shorewoman junior Abby Smith narrowed the gap to 7-3, with the Shorewomen still looking to climb back up. Towards the middle of the set, the score was 15-7 when the Diplomats went on a hot run to close out the set.
The Diplomats went on a 10-2 run, which was led by opponent Grace Polisano, who contributed on seven out of the ten points scored during the late run by the Diplomats.
A kill by the Diplomats ended the first set, which saw a final score of 25-9.
Sophomore Jensyn Hartzell said, “We have to come out with the same urge and hunger like we usually do. We knew we had more sets to play so we just had to come out more hungry and ready to play.”
Hartzell’s comments definitely proved to be right in the next set.
In the second set, the two Centennial Conference teams were battling it out the entire time. Both the Shorewomen and the Diplomats came out on fire and were going back and forth.
The set started out with two straight aces from junior Isabella Sansanelli.
Sansanelli said, “This was an important match for us, and we all knew that. We understood how tough F&M is, but that didn’t matter to us, we just wanted to compete every during possession.”
That’s exactly what happened, as the Shorewomen found themselves up 15-10 on the number two team in the conference.
The Diplomats did go on a 7-3 run, led by Maggiore’s four assist and Carly Ostrowski three digs.
Freshman Courtney Maxwell said, “During these runs, we have to remain composed and not get too high or low on ourselves.”
Things started to heat up again towards the end of the set.
The Diplomats led 25-24 following a kill by Allison Franke. Then, the Shorewomen won three straight points to win the set. Hartzell made it 26-25 on an ace, and sophomore Jenna Daunoras ended the set on a kill.
Daunoras said, “We all knew what we had to do to win the set and it just took a lot of focus and perseverance to do so.”
Senior Cassie Kowalski said, “I was so happy for our team to get that set win because our confidence went up and I was happy that we all just remained composed.”
During the third set, the Shorewomen came out on a good roll and were up 10-5. Later in the set, the Diplomats stormed back to knot the score all tied at 18-18. F&M led 24-17 following a service miscue by the Shorewomen, before the Shorewomen won five straight points to cut the lead to 24-22 on an ace by Sansanelli.
The Diplomats won the set on a service error by the Shorewomen.
The fourth set came down to a tie at 20-20. The set was getting intense and both teams were competing hard.
At the tie, the Diplomats captured the last five points to win the set and the match. This was a close and competitive match.
Maggiore put the Diplomats ahead on a kill at 21-20. A last block by Mullen is what finally ended the set and match.
Sansanelli was named the Goose Nation TV Shorewomen Player of the Match. Zedlar, had her second double-double in a row. Up next, the Shorewomen take on Swarthmore at 7 p.m. in Cain Gymnasium.
Their next match is Wednesday, Oct. 23 against Ursinus College at 7 p.m. in Cain Gymnasium. This will be the Shorewomen’s final match of the season.