The Muhlenberg volleyball team clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming Centennial Conference playoffs with a 3-0 sweep of Washington College.
 
The Mules (24-5, 8-2 CC) return to the CC semifinals for the second year in a row. Muhlenberg is the third seed and will face Swarthmore in the semifinal matchup, hosted at Johns Hopkins.
 
Sophomore Tara Register led the Mules with 13 kills, hitting .321 in the match, to go with eight digs. Sophomore Maggie Enestvedt recorded 11 kills and hit .391 while blocking four attacks. Junior Kelly Tornetta finished one dig shy of a double-double, going for 10 kills and nine digs.
 
Junior setter Shannon Hubert recorded 35 assists. Her next assist will tie her for the second most in a season (993) by a Mule. Freshman libero Maya Illovsky led the Mules with 17 digs, upping her season total to 444 which is the ninth-most for a Mule. Illovsky also recorded a team-high four aces, and freshman Rebecca Shear totaled three aces as well.
 
The Mules started the match strong with a 25-12 first set victory. With the set tied at 7-7, Muhlenberg went on a 10-1 run thanks in part to four Enestvedt kills and two Illovsky aces. Muhlenberg ended the stanza by winning the final four points, with a block from Enestvedt and sophomore Stefanie Mutter sealing the set victory.
 
The two teams battled back and forth in the second set. Muhlenberg held off two different set points for Washington, with an Enestvedt kill knotting the stanza at 25-25. Register recorded kills on the next two points to provide the Mules a 27-25 second set victory.
 
Muhlenberg started off the third set with an advantage as well, but the Shorewomen (17-11, 3-7 CC) battled back to take an 13-12 lead. With the stanza tied at 14-14, Muhlenberg rattled off four straight points to regain the lead. Washington tied the stanza again at 20-20, but Enestvedt and Mutter combined on another block to give the Mules an advantage they would not relinquish. Mutter finished the set with a kill, providing Muhlenberg with a 25-21 set win.