Box Score

HAVERFORD, Pa. – Trailing two games to none in its Centennial Conference semifinal match against top seed and 15th-ranked Haverford College, the Gettysburg College volleyball team reeled off a 30-19 victory in game three, but the upset bid came up short as the hosts Fords turned the score around on the visitors to advance to the league championship match on Sunday. The Bullets close the 2007 season with an overall record of 18-13.

Haverford (28-2) had doused Gettysburg with a 3-0 loss earlier this season, and looked to be on the verge of another sweep with 30-22 and 30-27 wins in the opening two games on Saturday. The Fords had led by six late in the latter match before a short Bullet comeback, and the momentum carried over for the Orange & Blue in the third frame as the squad jumped out to a 10-6 lead following an ace by Kristin Kotewicz (Columbia, Md./River Hill). The lead ballooned to 11 (21-10) on a kill by Stephanie Rickabaugh (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) and never dropped below seven for the remainder of the game.

Gettysburg captured the opening point in the final frame, but that would be the only lead held by the visitors as Haverford jumped in front 9-3. The Bullets slowly crawled back into the fray, however, eventually tying the game at 17-17 on a pair of Ford attacking errors, a Rickabaugh kill, and an ace by freshman Kate Yoder (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus). Haverford's bench called for time to halt the momentum and the strategy paid off with a 7-0 run to stretch the advantage to 24-17. Sophomore Kristina Mercier (Baltimore, Md./Mount de Sales Academy) stopped the run with a kill, but the damage was done and the Fords cleaned up with six of the final seven points to win 30-19.

Sophomore Amanda Krampf (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) paced the Bullet attack with 35 assists on the night, while also contributing three kills, two aces, and 15 digs. Those assists were spread around to the Gettysburg hitters as Katie Heffner (Easton, Pa./Easton), Meghan McConville (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty), Rickabaugh, and Yoder each tallied nine kills, with Mercier adding six.

Defensively, Heffner led the way with 20 digs and a pair of blocks assists. Rickabaugh added a dozen digs and three block assists, while Kotewicz and senior Katie Potochney (Roselle, N.J./Roselle Catholic) chipped in with 11 and nine digs, respectively. Yoder led the net defense with one solo block and three block assists.

First-team All-CC selections Rebecca and Rachel Salvo paced Haverford with 27 kills and 35 digs combined over the four games. Emily Hinchcliff tallied 44 assists and 10 digs, while Dana Mullenhard notched 10 kills and Kelsey Cantwell added 18 digs. The Fords advance to their second consecutive CC title match, this time against the number three seed McDaniel College (16-8), which defeated No. 2 Johns Hopkins University (23-5) 3-2 in Saturday's first semifinal.