Diplomats Rank Among Nation's Best in September 18 AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll

by Sports Information
9/19/02

LANCASTER, PA - Following victories at the University of Scranton Tournament and in a match versus Lebanon Valley College, the Franklin & Marshall College women's volleyball team received four votes in the American Volleyball Coaches (AVCA) Division III Coaches Top 25 Poll.

Middle blocker Rose Hartmann (Sr., Warminster, PA/William Tennet) served six aces and tallied 10 kills to lead the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats (10-3) to a 3-1 (30-22, 17-30, 32-30, 30-26) victory over previously undefeated and regionally ranked Eastern University (12-1) in the championship game of the Scranton University Tournament.

The match would swing back-and-forth in the first two games as the Diplomats built a lead and held on for a first game victory, while the Eagles pulled away for a 13 point second game win.

In the third game, facing a 29-21 deficit to be on the brink of going down two games to one, the Diplomats mustered a comeback to pull out a 32-30 victory to take the one game advantage on their way to a 3-1 victory.

Overall, F&M registered 17 service aces in the four game match, including six by Elizabeth Earll (So., New Freedom, PA/Susquehannock). Offensively, Kristen Kowalski (Sr., York, PA/Central York) and Heidi Goedicke (Sr., Spring Church, PA/Elderton) recorded 18 and 17 kills, respectively, to pace the team.

The Diplomats advanced to the title game by sweeping DeSales (30-25, 30-20, 30-26), Kean (30-18, 30-18, 30-21) and Cortland State (30-28, 30-18, 30-27).

Against Lebanon Valley, setter Jackie Skibbie (Fr., Darby, PA/Merion Mercy) recorded 32 assists and Maureen Lafferty (Jr., Collegeville, PA/Villa Maria) had 20 digs as F&M defeated the Dutchmen 30-18, 30-19, 25-30, 30-27 in the Mayser Center.

For her performance over the last week, Skibbie was named the September 17th Centennial Conference Player of the Week.

The Centennial Conference leader in set assists with 11.3 per game, Skibbie totaled 177 assists in five matches last week and was named to the All-Tournament team at the University of Scranton Invitational.

In addition, she ranks second in the Centennial Conference in hitting percentage (.316).

For the year, Skibbie has tallied 31 kills on 82 attempts, 401 assists, 13 service aces, 113 digs and seven blocks in thirty-six games played.

As a team, the Diplomats lead the Conference in kills (13.4) and assists (11.8) per game, while ranking third in hitting percentage (.205) and blocks (1.8) and fourth in service aces (2.34) and digs (18.32).

Overall, F&M was the only team in the CC to receive national votes in the first AVCA poll of the year.

Washington University (MO) is ranked first in the nation with 392 votes, including 11 first place votes. Elmhurst (363), Cal State Hayward (352), Juniata (352), Mount St. Joseph (333), Wisconsin-Whitewater (329), Trinity (324), Wittenberg (285), Wartburg (264) and Whitworth (238) round out the top 10 teams in the nation.

The complete AVCA poll is available at www.avca.org

Franklin & Marshall (12-3, 1-0 Centennial Conference) will continue the season on September 19 in the Centennial Conference season opener versus Bryn Mawr College. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m. in the Mayser Center.