Diplomats Set for 2004 Centennial Conference Championship Volleyball Tournament

by Sports Information
11/5/04

LANCASTER, PA –The Franklin & Marshall College volleyball team will look to capture the 2004 Centennial Conference Championship this weekend as the #2 seed Diplomats will begin play at #1 seed Gettysburg on November 6 at noon versus #3 seed Johns Hopkins University.

If the Diplomats (20-9, 9-1 CC) defeat Hopkins (17-9, 8-2 CC), and #1 seed Gettysburg (26-5, 10-0 CC) downs #4 Haverford (18-12, 7-3 CC), the CC title match will be played at noon on November 7 at Gettysburg. However, if F&M defeats Hopkins and Gettysburg loses, the Centennial Conference title match will be hosted at the Mayser Center on November 7 at 1:00 p.m.

The tournament’s champion will earn the CC’s automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA Division III tournament, with the regional round scheduled for Nov. 11-13. The field will be announced late Sunday.

Franklin & Marshall is seeking its fifth CC title and seventh berth in the NCAA tournament. The Diplomats claimed the conference crown in 1993, 1994, 1999 and 2000, and earned NCAA bids in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Hopkins and Gettysburg are the only two teams to appear in each of the seven CC tournaments. Haverford, Dickinson and Johns Hopkins are seeking their first conference title, and the Bullets are looking for their tenth. Gettysburg is the only team other than Franklin & Marshall to have won a conference tournament.

Franklin & Marshall, which clinched the #2 seed for the Centennial Conference playoffs on November 6-7 at Gettysburg College, has been led by the play of middle blocker Liz Earll (Sr., New Freedom, PA/Susquehannock) who ranks among the all-time leaders in kills (eighth, 976), service aces (fifth, 211) and blocks (third, 263) in Franklin & Marshall College program history. Further, she stands 11th in Centennial Conference history for aces.

In the latest Centennial Conference statistics through October 31, Earll leads the Conference leaders in hitting percentage (.309) as the Diplomats rank fourth in hitting percentage (.193), fifth in kills (12.22), fifth in assists (11.01), sixth in blocks (1.63), sixth in service aces (2.21) and second in digs (20.20).

In addition, the Diplomats have relied on setter Jackie Skibbie (Jr., Darby, PA/Merion Mercy) and libero Meghan Godorov (Jr., Orefield, PA/Parkland) during the season as Skibbie ranks third in the conference in assists (9.80) as she has tallied 1,068 assists in 109 games, while Godorov ranks second in digs (5.76) as she has registered 570 digs in 99 games.

In Centennial Conference history, Skibbie ranks 15th in assists and Godorov ranks eighth in digs.

Among first year players, middle hitter Susan Taylor (Fr., The Woodlands, TX/John Cooper) has been a force as she ranks third in hitting percentage (.270) and sixth in blocks (.79) as she has connected for 274 kills on 737 chances and blocked 85 shots (39 solo, 46 assisted) in 107 games.

For second year head coach Mary Kate Boland the title quest is a record-setting feat as she strives to become the first F&M alum to lead her alma mater to a Centennial Conference championship in any sport.

An All-Region setter for the Diplomats, she led Franklin & Marshall to the 1999 and 2000 Centennial Conference Championships and four consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament appearances while recording a 120-32 record from 1997-2000, the best four-year mark in program history, as a player.

Admittance to all days of the tournament is free of charge and fans unable to attend the matches can get live statistics online at http://www.gettysburg.edu/athletics/vball/04/live/xlive.htm