Volleyball beats Hopkins for first time since ’93
Swarthmore’s young volleyball team continued to exceed expectations, making history on Saturday by outlasting visiting Johns Hopkins in five sets. Swarthmore came from behind in the match. After winning the first set 26-24, they dropped the next two, 23-25 and 22-25, before winning the fourth set 25-21 and the fifth 15-11. The win was the team’s first over the Blue Jays since 1993, marking the second time this season that Swarthmore has beaten a conference opponent for the first time in over twenty years.
Leading the way on Swarthmore’s front line was Bridget Scott ’18, who had 13 kills. She was helped by the usual suspects, with Sarah Wallace ’18, Sam DuBois ’16, Madison Heppe ’16 and Kate Amodei ’15 all playing well. Chastity Hopkins ’15 earned a career milestone, recording her 500th career kill.
Head Coach Harleigh Chwastyk explained what she felt has been the difference between last year’s disappointing season and this year’s successes. She said, “The returning players and coaches made it a priority after not achieving our team goals on the court last season to focus on team chemistry, clearly defining expectations and roles and paying close attention to detail.” She added, “Having fun plays a huge part too.”
Swarthmore won its seventh consecutive match Wednesday, defeating Gettysburg. The Garnet now sit in a three-way tie at the top of the Centennial Conference, as Muhlenberg and Haverford are also 5-0. The Garnet host McDaniel on Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m. in Tarble Pavilion. For those traveling home for fall break, the next time to watch the Garnet play will be on Wednesday, October 22, when Swarthmore hosts Muhlenberg in a potential playoff preview. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Men’s Soccer looks to turn season around
It has been a rough go of it for the Swarthmore men’s soccer team. After going unbeaten in its first six matches, the team has been winless in its last five, exhibiting the growing pains that are to be expected from a team that is nearly 60 percent freshmen.
The Garnet did manage to snap their losing streak on Wednesday, battling Stevens to a 1-1 tie.
In Swarthmore’s most recent conference match, a Friday night loss to Ursinus, the Garnet outplayed the Bears in many facets of the match but failed to find the back of the net. Michael Stewart ’15 paced Swarthmore’s offense by taking four shots, including two on goal. Stewart appeared to assist on what would have been a game-tying goal by David Geschwind ’16, but the play was called back due to an offsides penalty.
Swarthmore has two remaining home games. The first is on Saturday, October 18 against McDaniel at 7 p.m. and the second is a 7 p.m. Garnet Weekend showdown against Haverford on November 1.
Cross Country performs well, sets sights on Nationals
In last weekend’s Paul Short Invitational, the men’s cross-country team finished in fifth place overall out of 40 teams, while the women finished 16th. The best individual finish for the Garnet was on the women’s side, where Liz Tawa ’15 finished 31st out of 360 runners.
Tawa described the team’s feelings following the meet, saying, “I think the strong showing on the men’s side (5th place) and some notable performances on the women’s team, in spite of the absence of a few critical runners, bode for a really successful post-season. Both teams have a very realistic shot at qualifying for nationals, so that’s the end goal that many of us are shooting for!”
Swarthmore’s last regular season meet is the Princeton Invitational on October 18. On November 1, the team will travel to Haverford for the Centennial Conference Championships.
