The Muhlenberg volleyball team earned a playoff berth on the final day of the regular season.
The berth had nothing to do with what the Mules did on the day; they clinched a spot in the playoffs when Haverford lost to Swarthmore in three sets in the afternoon. Muhlenberg finished in a tie for sixth place in the Centennial Conference with Haverford, earning its first playoff berth since 2018 by virtue of its four-set defeat of the Fords.
Muhlenberg will travel to Franklin & Marshall for a first-round playoff match on Wednesday. The two teams played just this week, with the Diplomats winning in three sets.
The Mules (13-12) tuned up for the postseason with a tight, closely contested four-set match at Arcadia (18-8) a few hours after the Haverford-Swarthmore match ended. The Knights won 27-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22.
Sophomore Esmae Oehler (pictured above) led the Muhlenberg attack with 13 kills, reaching double figures for the 12th time in her last 15 matches. Junior Isabella Pontrelli put down 8 kills in only 18 attempts, while sophomore Rachel Jacobs notched 7 kills in 18 swings.
Senior Emma Eglinton recorded her 12th double-double of the season with 31 assists and 12 digs.
Junior Alyssa Faville had another big match on defense, bringing up 39 digs – five short of the school record for a four-set match. With 509 digs on the season, she is only the fifth player in program history to top 500.
Faville had 14 digs in the first set alone, but the Mules squandered a five-point lead and two set points. Muhlenberg also was in position to take the second set, but the Knights scored the final five points to erase the Mules’ 22-20 lead.
The Mules finished strong in the third set to win and made an inspired run in the fourth set, cutting a 23-12 deficit to 24-22 behind sophomore Brooke Shiver, who recorded a kill, a block assist and a pair of service aces. Arcadia finally closed the match with a kill, however.
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