HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Ursinus College volleyball team pushed Haverford to the limit in a scintillating opening set and made life difficult on the hosts in the second, but the Fords managed to make enough plays in crunch time to score a 3-0 Centennial Conference sweep (26-24, 25-22, 25-16).

The first frame was a seesaw affair from the get-go, neither side leading by more than three until Haverford (6-11, 1-3) went ahead 18-14 on the back of six unanswered points. The Bears were down 23-16 later in the frame, but remained undaunted and ripped off an 8-1 run to knot it at 24; sophomore Paige DeAlba had a kill in the spurt, which was bolstered by four straight Haverford attack errors. The Fords, however, recovered in time to steal the next two points and a 26-24 decision.

Junior Kelly Piotrowicz uncorked a trio of kills as the Bears (7-12, 1-5) jumped all over the home side in the second set, leading 6-1 and 8-3. Haverford got back to even at 10-10 before a back-and-forth swing culminated in a 21-17 advantage for the hosts. Ursinus closed to within 23-22 on back-to-back kills from Piotrowicz, but again Haverford was able to grab two points in a row to seal the set. The Fords got out to a big lead in the third and stayed on course for a 25-16 triumph.

Piotrowicz finished with 14 digs and 111 assists in addition to her seven kills, five of which came in the second set. The Bears had 15 kills and hit .196 in that frame.

DeAlba had 11 assists and 11 digs, while sophomore Emily Harris led the Bears with eight kills. Fellow sophomore Hannah Merges had six digs, five kills, and three aces.

Julia Gallagher-Teske led the way with 11 kills for the Fords, who hit .229 for the match.

Ursinus resumes conference play at Franklin & Marshall on Saturday.