Muhlenberg College Athletics

Men’s soccer

When Nikki Dickson’s serve late in the fourth set hit the top of the net, trickled along the tape for a few seconds and fell in behind a Haverford player for an ace, it looked like it was destined to be the Muhlenberg volleyball team’s night.

And in a way it was, even though the final score did not go in the Mules’ favor. The Fords came back after being

Price became only the fourth player in program history to record 500 career kills and 200 career blocks.

In spite of the loss, the Mules (3-11, 1-2) could take away a lot of positives from the match, primarily the confident and inspired way they played against one of the top programs in the CC. Haverford (7-8, 2-0) has won four of the last five CC titles and easily won last year’s match, 25-15, 25-12, 25-15.

Senior Jackie Price played an outstanding match, recording 14 kills (two short of her career high) with only two errors and 5 blocks. She had plenty of company in the big numbers department. Sophomore Morgan Duggan was two kills short of a triple-double, finishing with 24 assists, 19 digs, 8 kills and 4 blocks.

Freshman Lindsey Gambocurta set a career high with 9 kills, and

Senior Brooke McQueen had 17 digs to go along with 7 kills.

Freshmen Alyssa Schell and Julia Elkin established career highs in digs with 21 and 12, respectively. Dickson added 16 assists, 8 digs and 4 aces.

There was little indication of what was to come when the Fords won the first set, 25-12, and opened up an 11-4 lead in the second. But the Mules came back to take a 16-14 lead, setting the stage for a thrilling finish. Each team served for the set, Muhlenberg at 24-23 and Haverford at 25-24, before back-to-back kills by Hynson and a second-ball kill by Price to an open corner of the court gave the Mules a 27-25 win.

Muhlenberg came back again in the third set, turning a 12-10 deficit into an 18-14 lead and an eventual 25-18 win.

The Mules cut a 22-16 deficit to 23-22 in the fourth set, thanks in part to Dickson’s fortunate roll, but Haverford scored the last two points to force the decisive fifth set. The final set came down to the wire too, with the Fords scoring the final three points to break a 12-12 tie and take the match.
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