Lancaster, Pa. – Bryn Mawr's volleyball squad got back in action earlier Saturday afternoon against a difficult Franklin & Marshall opponent. The Owls dominated the second set of the match to make it a 1-1 contest early, but the Diplomats were ultimately too strong and held home court with a 3-1 win. Sarah Gates led the Owls with nine kills on the day while Danielle Preziuso collected 26 assists in the contest.

Franklin & Marshall (12-8, 2-3 Cent.) led wire-to-wire in the opening set of today's match, taking the frame by a 25-17 score. However, Bryn Mawr (9-9, 0-3 Cent.) came back in a big way in the second set. Several Diplomats attack errors helped the Owls jump out to an early lead, and then Bryn Mawr started piling up the kills. Gates, Avary Taylor, Rachel Ofili, and Noemi Moreno all tallied impressive kills in the set to help set up the Owls for success. Franklin & Marshall tried to make a brief comeback attempt, taking a 12-10 lead midway through the frame. Bryn Mawr was unfazed, though, going on a six-point run to retake the lead and not look back. Moreno threw down one last kill to close out the set in 25-18 fashion and knot the match back up at 1-1.

Unfortunately for the Owls, that would be as good as it got on the day. Franklin & Marshall regained all the momentum in the contest by taking a dominant 25-13 victory in the third set, where they once again did not trail. Bryn Mawr went on a four-point run in the end of that frame thanks to kills from Gates and Moreno and a couple Diplomats attack errors, but that was not nearly enough to do any damage. In the fourth set, Bryn Mawr did a solid job of staying with the hosts early, even holding a 4-2 lead after a kill from Ofili in the opening moments. However, with the Owls trailing just 10-9, F&M used a four-point run of their own to take a 14-9 lead and not look back. A final kill by Gates stemmed off the first match point, but Franklin & Marshall took the next, winning the set 25-17 and taking the 3-1 match win.

With the loss, the Owls slip to 9-9 overall on the season and 0-3 in conference play. The team will get a quick opportunity to get back in the win column when they take the court on Wednesday night against Muhlenberg. However, that will be a tough test for Bryn Mawr, as the Mules currently top the Centennial Conference with a 4-0 record in the league and an impressive 17-2 record overall. The action gets underway on the Class of '58 Gym on Bryn Mawr's campus at 7:00 PM on Wednesday.