The Muhlenberg volleyball team nearly pulled off an incredible comeback, fighting off match point in two different sets before finally falling to Swarthmore, 3-1, in a thrilling Centennial Conference semifinal matchup of regionally ranked teams.
The Garnet (21-6) advances to face Johns Hopkins, a 3-0 winner against McDaniel in the other semifinal, for the championship.
Junior
Kelly Tornetta led the Mules (24-6) with 17 kills, while sophomores
Tara Register and
Maggie Enestvedt added 14 and 13, respectively.
Junior
Shannon Hubert recorded 46 assists, becoming the second Muhlenberg player with 1,000 assists in a season. She also finished with 16 digs, joining Tornetta (17), Register (13) and freshmen
Maya Illovsky (15) and
Rebecca Shear (15) to give the Mules five players with double figures in digs.
Down two sets, Muhlenberg led 22-19 in the third, only to have Swarthmore run off the next four points to take a 23-22 lead. The Garnet served at 24-23 with a chance to complete the sweep, but a kill by Register tied the score, and successive kills by Enestvedt and Hubert gave the Mules a 26-24 lead and sent the match to a fourth set.
Muhlenberg trailed 9-4 early in the fourth set but rallied to tie the score at 19-19. The back-and-forth set was also tied at 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27. The Mules served with a chance to force a fifth set three times, and Swarthmore served for the match at 27-26. A kill by Tornetta kept Muhlenberg alive, but the Garnet recorded kills on the next two serves to take the set, 29-27, and close out the match.
The Mules showed their comeback ability in each of the first two sets as well. Swarthmore led 23-13 in the first before Muhlenberg went on a 6-0 run on Illovsky's serve to force a timeout. The Garnet scored the next two points to win, 25-19.
In the second set, Muhlenberg closed a six-point deficit to one, at 24-23, before Swarthmore finished the set with a kill.
Junior
Erica Schultz added eight kills for the Mules, who tied a school record for a four-set match with 58 assists.
