Sports

Volleyball makes ECACs

In print | November 12, 2009

The Swarthmore volleyball team’s historic conference campaign came to an end Saturday, as the Garnet fell to No. 25 Haverford in four sets in the Centennial Conference semifinals.

Haverford (28-3, 10-0 CC) took control of the match early in front of a home crowd, quickly taking the first two sets, including a 25-7 blowout in the second set. Suddenly, Swarthmore (19-10, 6-4) was looking at two-sets-to-none deficit in front of an increasingly frenzied Haverford crowd. All margin for error had vanished as quickly as the second set.

Swarthmore, however, wasn’t quite ready for the match to end. Digging in, the Garnet held off the Fords in the third set and carved out a 25-22 victory, putting up 16 kills in the third set alone.

Head coach Harleigh Chwastyk made sure to cite the unprecedented turnout of Swarthmore fans for a visiting match as a boost for the team.

“[On] Saturday, the Swarthmore fans were awesome,” she said, “I know we played in the Haverford gym, but it was a home match for Swarthmore.”

“We just kept at it,” senior Johanna Bond ’10 said. “Coach [Chwastyk] said ‘Don’t look at the scoreboard. Just keep going.’ We’re a team that likes to come back, and volleyball is so much a game [of] momentum shift. Unfortunately, when you let the other team get on runs, it can be pretty hard to stop it.”

The fourth set saw four lead changes, and a late run by the Garnet to cut the deficit to 23-21 – four points from evening the semifinal match.

But it was not to be, as Haverford bagged the next two points to secure a spot in the conference finals for the third year in a row.

For a program that has long been relegated to looking up at perennial contenders such as Haverford and Gettysburg, this year’s finish represents a new best. Chwastyk, for her part, believes that it signals a new era for Swarthmore volleyball.

“We’re reaching the next plateau now. We’re right in the middle of it,” she said. “And with our recruiting as strong as it is right now, we’re looking forward.”

“We’re disappointed, obviously, because it was such a big game, and we’d had such a good run,” Bond sand. “But after a day it became easier to have some perspective on what we accomplished [this season]. It’s hard, of course, because we came so close, but it’s also important to look at all the good things that happened this year.”

In what has become a familiar storyline all year, outside hitter Genny Pezzola ’12 set the tone for the Garnet offensive. Pezzola, selected as Most Valuable Player of the Garnet Classic Tournament all the way back in September, and who was twice-named the Centennial Conference Player of the Week, had 16 kills and 19 digs Saturday. Haverford’s Kelsey Cantwell led both teams with 20 kills, while Caitlyn Tranquillo led defensively with 16 digs.

Bond and Kearney Bangs ’10, in the last conference match of their Swarthmore careers, played games they could be proud of. Bangs racked up a team-leading 26 assists, while Bond posted 11 kills.

“This has been a really special season for Kearney and me,” said Bond. “We feel very lucky to have played on such a special team, where all of us were playing ‘for’ the team the whole time.”

Haverford, meanwhile, advanced to Sunday’s championship match against Gettysburg and won in straight sets for its third title in as many years.

On Monday, Chwastyk received the news that the Garnet volleyball team had been selected to participate in the ECAC South Region Volleyball Tournament as the sixth seed.

“I’m over the moon about this,” Chwastyk said. “And so are the girls.”

Swarthmore drew 320 rival Widener in the first round and fell to the Pride last night by a score of 3-1. Still, these women have a lot to be proud of, having gone where no Swarthmore volleyball team has gone before.