COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College Women's Volleyball team used a stunning rally on set point to preserve a four-set win over Haverford (25-20, 17-25, 25-17, 26-24) on Wednesday night in Centennial Conference action.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 12-10 overall and kept itself in the Centennial Conference Tournament hunt by improving to 3-5 in conference play. It was also the Bears first win over Haverford since 1998. Meanwhile, the Fords fell to 10-12 overall and 3-4 in Centennial Conference action.
 
 
Senior Caroline Sherman delivered a 21-kill performance to establish a new season-high behind a strong .381 hitting percentage. Junior Reena Robinson and sophomore Daejah Bazemore posted nine kills apiece while junior Mel Eglinton compiled a line of eight kills, 12 digs and totaled six blocks (one solo, five assisted). Senior Emma Illovsky led the Bears with 19 digs and sophomore Alexa Mazzeo added 16 digs. Senior Rachel Bernard registered a season-high 32 assists and six digs while junior Erin Dychdala tallied 16 assists and eight digs.
 
 
The Bears took its first multi-point lead with four straight points to go up 6-3 early in the first set. Ursinus worked its way out to a four point advantage at 12-8 and eventually at 17-13 before breaking it open by winning seven of the next eight points to take a 23-14 advantage. Haverford won seven of the next eight points to make things interesting, but Eglinton came out of a timeout with a kill to close out the first set.
 
 
The second set was very competitive and back and forth to start with neither team leading by more than two points through the first 18 points played. Ursinus seemed to take control with four straight points that gave them a 13-9 lead until the Fords won 11 of the next 13 points to seize the set on its own at 21-15. Haverford continued to pull away and ultimately closed out the set win by winning 16 of the last 20 points after Ursinus held that 13-9 lead.
 
 
Ursinus started strong in the third set by taking a 7-2 lead and eventually extended its lead out to 10-4. Haverford closed in by four points at 13-9 before the Bears won six straight points behind three kills to go up 19-9. Kills from Bazemore and Sherman put Ursinus up 21-10 and the Fords made another charge with five straight points to force an Ursinus timeout at 21-15. However, the Bears closed the set out with four kills in each of their final points and went up 2-1 in the match.
 
 
Haverford gained the early lead in the fourth set at 3-1 and eventually went up 6-4 following a kill. The Bears won three straight points to go up 7-6 and bounced back from Haverford points to tie the set up at nine after a service error. Ursinus won five straight points after trailing 11-10 to go up 15-11, four of which coming from kills, which made Haverford take a timeout. The Bears held an 18-14 lead until the Fords stayed alive by winning six straight points to go up 20-18. Haverford pushed itself to set point at 24-20 and the Bears suddenly were staring a fifth set in the face. However, the Bears comeback began with a kill by Robinson and attack error made it 24-22. Out of a Fords timeout, another attack error made it a one point game and Bernard smashed an ace to tie the set at 24. Junior Lexi Couch hammered in a kill to put Ursinus ahead before a ball handling error on the Fords completed the Bears stunning comeback.
 
 
Gia Frank led the Fords with 16 kills and Izabela Potocnjak added 10 kills for the second Haverford player in double-digit for kills.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Saturday, November 2nd as they will travel to Dickinson for another crucial Centennial Conference match at 12:00 p.m.