BALTIMORE, Md. – One five-set match wasn't enough on Centennial Conference (CC) championship weekend for McDaniel. The Green Terror made it back-to-back matches to go the distance.
In Sunday's championship at Johns Hopkins, McDaniel took a 2-1 lead before Haverford rallied to force a fifth set. The Fords were not done with their rally, either, taking a 12-10 lead before the Green Terror scored the final five points for a 15-10 victory in the set and its first tournament title.
Kloe Martin (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) was named the tournament most valuable player after her 23-kill, 11-dig performance to lead McDaniel (21-7) to its third overall title and first since 1999.
For Jessica Wolverton, it was her first as a coach but raising the CC trophy was nothing new to the fourth-year mentor. She won it four times as a player at Gettysburg, including leading the way in her third 12 years ago to the day when her Bullets also defeated Haverford and Johns Hopkins for the title.
The Green Terror, who earns the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, will find out Monday morning where the squad will continue its season. The NCAA selection show airs at 11 a.m.
Keri Godbe led the Fords (20-10) with 16 kills.
Meg O'Day and Madeline Rose (Soddy Daisy, Tenn./Baylor School) traded kills to open the fifth set.
Back-to-back errors gave Haverford a 5-3 lead before Martin knocked down a kill off the block and a Ford ball-handling error evened the score for the fourth time.
A Valentine Courouble block gave Haverford an 8-6 edge. After the crossover, the teams traded points before a McDaniel timeout at 12-10.
Out of the stoppage, a Martin kill and an attack error evened the score at 12-all.
Lauren Wells (Glen Allen, Va./Glen Allen) put one in the far corner out of a Ford timeout for a 13-12 edge. Lexi Corral (Tucson, Ariz./Gaithersburg [Md.]) followed with a kill directly off an overpass to give the Green Terror match point.
A block from Wells and Corral capped the comeback and the championship.
Haverford took the first point of the first set on a Courouble kill before four straight points from McDaniel opened up a 4-1 lead.
A Rose kill and ace stretched the lead to 7-2.
Three straight kills by the Fords closed the deficit to 10-7 before the teams traded points before back-to-back kills from O'Day made it a 15-13 score.
A Lauren Wells (Glen Allen, Va./Glen Allen) kill directly off a covered block – her second of back-to-back knockdowns – stretched the lead to 19-15.
In a rally highlighted by Colette Kellen's (Olney, Md./Covenant Life) defense, a Rose and Teryn Rath (Grass Valley, Calif./Bear River) block gave McDaniel a 22-17 lead.
Haverford closed to within 24-22 but Kloe Martin (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) knocked a ball just inside the end line to cap a 25-22 victory.
Tied at 8-all after a back-and-forth start to the second set, two Courouble kills keyed a 4-0 Fords run that forced a Green Terror timeout.
McDaniel closed to within 14-13 on a powerful Martin kill across the court before Haverford notched the next three points to once again open up a four-point edge en route to a 25-19 win to even the match at 1-all.
The Green Terror jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third set behind a pair of kills from Martin before three straight Ford points closed the margin to 6-4.
Clinging to an 11-9 lead, Allie Lugar (Wilmington, Del./Dupont) knocked down a pair of kills to key a 5-0 burst that allowed McDaniel to open up a 16-9 advantage.
Martin capped the 25-12 victory with her 16th kill off the block and straight down.
Haverford jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the fourth set behind two kills and a block from O'Day.
Back-to-back Martin kills capped a 4-0 burst to close the deficit to 16-12 but the Fords were able to force the deciding set with a 25-19 win.
Rose finished with 13 kills. Taylor Bauman (Charlottesville, Va./Albemarle) led four players in double-digit digs with 27. Kellen, Martin and Genna Weger(Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) added 11 each.