COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College volleyball made a valiant effort to stave off a sweep at the hands of Washington College in Centennial Conference action on Wednesday, but the Shorewomen held on for a 26-24 victory in the third set and left Helfferich Hall with a 3-0 win.

Freshman Kelly Piotrowicz led the Bears with seven kills and 15 assists, and sophomore Taylor McCartney's kill staved off a match point at 24-23 in the third set for Ursinus (8-11, 1-7). But a service error gave the Shorewomen (10-11, 2-5) another shot, and Kaitlyn Marino ended it with a kill to close out the 25-16, 25-15, 26-24 victory.

McCartney and junior Allison Raff produced six kills each for the Bears, made things interesting in a third set that was never separated by more than three points. The third set alone included a whopping 16 ties, one of them at 18-all after Piotrowicz polished off a three-point run with a kill. Ursinus never led after it went ahead 7-6 but never trailed by more than three, and forced deadlocks at 19-19, 21-21, and 22-22 before Washington College escaped.

The Bears hit .258 in the third set and .121 in their final home match of the 2016 campaign. Sophomore Sydney Gonzalez finished with 10 digs, Raff adding nine of her own, and senior Emily van Mulbregt had eight assists, four digs, and two aces in her last match in Helfferich Hall.

Marino led all players with 12 kills for Washington College, which got a balanced effort that included eight kills from Alaina Geissberger, seven from Lizzie Baden, and six apiece out of Cassie Kowalksi and Alexis Jordan. Taylor Horan handed out 32 assists with seven digs.

The volleyball team travels to Dickinson on Saturday for a tri-match with the Red Devils and Eastern Mennonite before concluding the season at Muhlenberg on Wednesday, October 26.