LANCASTER, PA. – The Ursinus College women's volleyball team dropped a hard-fought battle with Centennial Conference rival Franklin & Marshall 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-13) on Saturday afternoon from the Mayser Center.
 
With the loss, Ursinus falls to 10-1 on the season and 0-1 in Centennial Conference action, meanwhile the Diplomats improve to 7-6 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
 
Senior Katie Cressman led the Bears collecting 13 kills and six digs while finishing with a .324 attack percentage. Sophomore Rachel Bernard earned 13 assists while first-year Noelle Smits added four kills.
 
In the first set, the Diplomats jumped out to an 8-3 lead, before Cressman earned her first kill of the match to cut the deficit to four. Moments later, Ursinus cut the deficit to just three after Smits earned a kill to make the score 13-10. Gianna Mangiamele led a 9-2 run Diplomats run, earning three kills in the process while Coco Shultz collected two kills to stretch their lead to ten. First-years Reena Robinson and Erin Dychdala followed up with their first kills of the match, but the Diplomats closed out the set with a kill and a block by Sydney Levins.
 
Franklin & Marshall carried the momentum into the second set jumping out to a 16-5 lead, before the Bears responded with four consecutive points after back-to-back aces from Bernard. Later, Cressman tallied two more kills before the Diplomats closed out the set with an ace and a kill from Annmarie Earley. In the final set, F&M jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Cressman added two more kills to her game-high 13. Franklin & Marshall responded with a 9-1 run to make the score 13-3 after a kill from Levins snuck past the Bears defense. Ursinus battled over the final ten points of the match, but the Diplomats' lead proved to be to much as they closed out the final set 25-13.
 
Franklin & Marshall was led by Gianna Mangiamele as she earned 8 kills and Liah Perez collected a game-high 20 assists. The Diplomats had the advantage at the net, earning a .360 hitting percentage while the Bears finished with an attack percentage of .150. Franklin & Marshall held a 13-5 advantage in aces while only committing eight errors on the afternoon.
 
The Bears will return to action on Wednesday as they travel to Moravian University for a non-conference matchup starting at 7pm.