COLLEGEVILLE, PA. – The Ursinus College women's volleyball team battled throughout the evening but eventually fell to Swarthmore 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-18) in Centennial Conference from Helfferich Hall on Tuesday evening.

 
With the loss, the Bears fell to 14-7 overall and 2-5 in Conference action, meanwhile the garnet improved to 13-7 on the season and 6-1 in Conference play.

 
The Bears were led by senior Katie Cressman who finished with a game-high 14 kills (.464%) and two aces, while sophomore Caroline Sherman added six kills. Senior Luca Walborn collected a team-high six digs, while sophomore Rachel Bernard tallied 11 assists.

 
Swarthmore jumped out to an early 11-5 lead in the first set, after six consecutive points including a trio of kills. Cressman answered for the Bears with a kill on a pass from first-year Erin Dychdala cutting their deficit to five. The Garnet scored back-to-back points, but the Bears answered with an ace from first-year Noelle Smits to make the score 13-8. The Garnet controlled the momentum responding with a 6-3 run to make the score 19-11. After a Bears error, Cressman earned her fourth kill of the set to cut their deficit to eight. Cressman added her fifth kill of the set and earned an ace, but the Garnet earned the set victory 25-17 for a 1-0 lead.


Swarthmore carried the momentum over into the second set jumping out to an 8-0 lead before the Bears capitalized on a Garnet error. Each team traded points with the Bears cutting their deficit to six after a 6-4 Ursinus run. Dychdala earned her first kill of the match, while Cressman added three kills over the stretch.  Swarthmore answered with a 9-3 run to make the score 21-9 late in the second set. Ursinus responded with a 6-1 run, led by back-to-back kills from Cressman and ace from Walborn cutting their deficit to seven. Swarthmore closed out the set with three consecutive points to take the second set 25-15.

 
The Bears opened the third set with an 8-3 run behind a kill from Sherman and a trio of Garnet errors. Swarthmore later tied the match at ten a piece after a 7-2 run which included kills from Alexa Bartlett, Grace Hegland, and Angelina Heminway. The Garnet continued with the stellar play using another 7-2 run to stretch their lead to five midways through the final set. The Bears continued to show resilience scoring four of the next five points to cut their deficit to just two. Cressman earned a trio of kills over the Bears 4-1 run. The Garnet closed out the set with a 7-2 run to earn the match victory.

 
The Garnet finished with an impressive .391 hitting percentage as Kaylee Zhang earned a team-high 11 kills, while Dani Pena collected a game-high 35 assists. Ursinus finished with a .236 hitting percentage while only committing six errors throughout the three sets.

 
The Bears will return to action on Friday for their 2022 home finale against McDaniel starting at 7pm.