SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Senior
Madison Heppe of the Swarthmore College volleyball team (20-9) set a new program record for career digs and the Garnet advanced to the semifinals of the ECAC South Division III Volleyball Championship with a 3-1 victory over FDU-Florham. Heppe recorded 13 digs in the match and sits at 1,567 for her career, breaking Erin Heaney '09's previous mark of 1,560.
After dropping the first set, Swarthmore battled back and won by a score of 21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-20.
Sarah Girard and
Malia Scott finished in double figures for digs with 27 and 14, respectively, and
Sarah Wallace (19 digs, 17 kills) and
Sam DuBois (41 assists, 11 digs) each recorded a double-double. Swarthmore served 11 aces as DuBois led the way with five and Scott and Girard added two apiece.
Olivia Leventhal swung 15 kills with seven coming in the second set.
The pivotal moment of that set came with the Garnet trailing 14-16 out of a timeout and rallying to take a 20-16 lead they would not relinquish behind accurate hitting from Leventhal and Wallace.
Swarthmore used a six-point run in the middle of the third for a 15-8 advantage and weathered a five-point FDU-Florham tear later in the set. At 18-15, the Garnet claimed eight of the final nine points to take a 2-1 lead into the fourth.
Swarthmore posted its best hitting percentage in the final frame with a .226 mark and limited FDU-Florham to .032 on eight kills and seven errors in 32 attempts. Wallace recorded five kills and senior
Anastasia White-Torruellas totaled three, including a key swing down the stretch at 22-17.
Malia Scott followed up with two consecutive aces and Swarthmore concluded the match on a FDU-Florham service error.
The Garnet will face a familiar opponent in Lebanon Valley during the semifinals, which will be hosted on Saturday, Nov. 14 by Carnegie Mellon, the top seed in the tournament. Swarthmore beat LVC 3-1 on Sep. 18 and outlasted the Dutchmen 3-2 on Oct. 17.
