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BY VICTOR BRADY

In print | Published November 3, 2011

Prior to Saturday’s regular-season finale between Swarthmore and Haverford, the matchup for the first round of the 2011 Centennial Conference tournament was already set with the Garnet and the Fords both in the playoffs, with no chance to secure a first-round bye.

But with home-court advantage for this first-round matchup up for grabs, the latest installment of the rivalry did not lack significance.

For the second consecutive meeting, the Garnet knocked off the Fords on the road, this time by a 3-1 final. With two consecutive victories over Haverford, Swarthmore has its first winning streak against their Main-Line rivals since winning six in a row from 1993-95.

Having previously dropped three five-set barnburners during Centennial play to the top-three seeds in the Conference tournament (Johns Hopkins, Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg respectively), Swarthmore was able to close out the Fords in four sets with three of the four decided by three or fewer points (25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 26-24).

In the victory, Hillary Santana ’12 broke the program single-season record for digs (505) and Allie Coleman ’13 set the program single-season record for assists (964).

Even more impressive is the remarkable transformation that the program has seen over the past four years. In the fall of 2008, the Garnet recorded a total of just six wins against 19 losses. In 2011, with the first-years from 2008 now seniors, the Garnet ended the regular season with a total of just six losses against 23 wins.

“The leadership from the upperclassmen when this year’s seniors were freshmen was really focused on changing the nature of the team,” head coach Harleigh Chwastyk said. “I think that those leaders instilled this desire in our 2012 seniors and they really carried it all the way through their four years.”

Having played the Fords just three days ago, the Garnet entered Wednesday’s rematch with renewed focus. “We have to know what our strengths are and improve on the few things that we struggled with on Saturday,” Chwastyk said.

The Garnet didn’t lack for motivation prior to Wednesday’s rematch. “We still have a fire and desire to win,” said Kat Montemurro ’13, who had 14 kills on Saturday. “We know this is for a spot in the playoffs and we have to keep winning to keep playing.”

Added Maggie Duszyk ’14, “I think that it is good that we recently played them because we know what we need to improve on. We want to keep winning.”
But Wednesday was simply Haverford’s day. The fifth-seeded Fords upset the Garnet in four sets to eliminate Swarthmore.

Haverford put eight on the scoreboard in the first set before the Garnet scored. A late run cut the deficit to 21-23 before the Fords were able to close out the first set 25-22.

Set number two saw more of the same as the Fords opened up a wide 17-10 advantage before the Garnet went on a run of their own to level the set at 22 on an Coleman kill. But again the Fords won big points down the stretch to win the set 25-23.

With their playoff life on the line, the Garnet quickly opened up the third set 7-3 and never lost the lead. The Fords closed to 11-12 before the Garnet took 10 of the next 13 points to gain a commanding edge and finish the set off 25-16.

In a remarkable fourth set in which neither team led by more than three points at any point and which saw 17 ties and seven lead changes. Tied at 14 apiece, the team’s exchanged the next 14 points to draw level at 21 with neither side leading by more than one. Three consecutive points by the Fords set up match point. But Swarthmore was able to recover the match at the death with three consecutive points thanks to two Haverford attacking error.

But with the match leveled, Haverford won the next two points to close out the contest 26-24. Of the eight sets played between the two teams in the last week, six were decided by three points or fewer.

Montemurro led the Garnet with 16 kills and a .325 hitting percentage. Genny Pezzola ‘12 led the team with 24 digs and Coleman handed out 36 assists in the match.
Swarthmore will await their ECAC selection with first round matches of the eight team tournament scheduled for Wednesday.

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