Diplomats Look to Serve Notice at 2005 Centennial Conference Volleyball Championships

by Liz Webber
11/5/05

LANCASTER, PA – The Franklin & Marshall volleyball team looks to capture the 2005 Centennial Conference Championship this weekend, as the #4 seed Diplomats begin play versus #1 seed Johns Hopkins University on November 5 at Larry Goldfarb Gymnasium at 2:30 PM.

If the Diplomats (20-8, 8-2 CC) defeat Hopkins (23-5, 9-1 CC), they look to face either #2 seed Gettysburg College (18-12, 8-2 CC) or #3 seed Haverford College (8-2, 18-8 CC) on November 6 at 1:00 PM for the Centennial Conference title at Hopkins.

The tournament’s champion will earn the Centennial Conference’s automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA Division III tournament, with the regional round hosted at #2 nationally ranked Juniata College on November 10-12.

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.

Johns Hopkins and Haverford are both seeking their first conference title, and the Bullets are looking for their eleventh. Gettysburg is the only team other than Franklin & Marshall to have won a conference title.

Franklin & Marshall, which tied Gettysburg and Haverford for second in the CC during the regular season, has been led by setter Jackie Skibbie (Sr., Darby, PA/ Merion Mercy) fourth in the Conference in assists (10.14), as the Diplomats rank fifth in hitting percentage (.191), third in assists (11.96), fourth in kills (13.04), sixth in blocks (1.68), eighth in service aces (2.23), and eighth in digs (15.92).

With 3,443 assists, Skibbie ranks third in career assists at Franklin & Marshall. So far this season, Skibbie has recorded 110 kills, 1028 assists, 27 service aces, 264 digs, and 25 blocks (14 solo, 11 assisted) in 94 games played.

In addition, the Diplomats have rallied behind the play of outside hitter Margot Phelan (Fr., Ellicott City, MD/ Centennial), middle hitter Susan Taylor (So., The Woodlands, TX/John Cooper) and libero Meghan Godorov (Sr., Orefield, PA/Parkland).

The first player to earn All-Conference honors as a freshman since 2002, Phelan is the 14th player in Conference history to be named All-Conference as a freshman.

The first freshman player in F&M program history to earn All-Centennial Conference first team honors, Phelan is the CC leader in kills per game with 411 in 94 games for an average of 4.37. Taylor is ranked fifth in the CC in kills per game with 357 in 97 games for an average of 3.68. Leading the team’s defensive effort, Godorov ranks third in digs per game in the CC with 504 in 86 games for an average of 5.25.

In Centennial Conference history, Skibbie surpassed Karina Menconi (3,235) of Dickinson College to rank ninth in CC history for career assists. Additionally, Godorov ranks first in CC history for career digs with 2133.

For third year head coach Mary Kate Boland, winning the title would be a record-setting feat, as she would 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. She still holds all-time F&M records in kills (twelfth with 703), digs (sixth place with 1433), service aces (third with 241), blocks (eighth with 159), and assists (first with 4062).

Admission is free to the tournament and directions to Johns Hopkins University are available online at www.centennial.org/championships/volleyball/