The Muhlenberg volleyball team pulled out a gritty four-set win at Dickinson in its regular-season finale to earn a Centennial Conference playoff berth.
The Mules (14-10, 4-6) are in the CC playoffs for the second straight year, and as in 2022, they will travel to Franklin & Marshall for a first-round match on Wednesday. If the Mules win, they will head to top-seeded Johns Hopkins for a semifinal match on Friday.
After dropping the first set to the Red Devils (10-14, 4-6), who were in a similar “win and in” scenario, Muhlenberg took the tight second set by scoring the last two points on kills by sophomore Christina Marcin for a 25-23 win.
A relatively comfortable 25-14 win in the third set gave the Mules a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set was not as comfortable. Muhlenberg led 18-14 before Dickinson ran off six straight points to take a 20-18 lead. It was 24-23, with the Red Devils one point from forcing a fifth set, before a kill by Marcin and back-to-back aces by freshman Jenny Ryan ended the match and sent the Mules back to the playoffs.
Marcin had a monster match, finishing with 19 kills and tying her career high with 23 digs. Junior Esmae Oehler also recorded 23 digs to set a career high and added 10 kills.
Seniors Alyssa Faville (32) and Julia Ficon (career-high 19) also were big contributors to Muhlenberg’s 109 digs, which were just four short of the most by a CC team in a four-set match this season.
Ryan served 4 aces to go along with her 43 assists. Junior Rachel Jacobs (pictured above) knocked down 11 kills.
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