Box Score NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--The Smith College volleyball team fell to Swarthmore College in the opener of the 2012 Volleyball Hall of Fame Tournament, co-hosted by Smith and Mount Holyoke on Friday evening.  The Garnet earned a 3-0 (16-25, 13-25, 11-25) win.

Mei-Li Smith (Cypress, Calif./Cypress) hit .417 for Smith with 11 kills on 24 attempts, adding nine assists and 13 digs for good measure.  Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H./Portsmouth) added nine kills and seven digs for Smith, who dropped their eighth consecutive game to fall to 6-15.  Swarthmore is now 16-4.

The Pioneers were neck-and-neck with the Garnet in the first set, tying the set at seven on a service by from Paige Sarlandt (Cloverdale, Calif./Cloverdale).   Four consecutive points for Swarthmore put them Garnet in front for good, forcing Smith into a time out, and Swarthmore led by as many as 10 points before winning the set 25-16.

Swarthmore burst out to an early lead in the second set, as consecutive service aces from Kat Montemurro gave the Garnet an early 3-2 lead, which they pushed out to 11-5 before a Smith timeout.  Three straight Pioneer pionts out of the timeout brought Smith within three, but a 6-1 run by Swarthmore pushed the lead to 17-9, as they won the set 25-13.

Set three was similar, as the Swarthmore opened up an early 6-1 advantage en route to a 25-11 set win.

Smith will play Westfield State at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, before closing out the tournament against Brandeis at 1 p.m.  Swarthmore will play both their matches out Mount Holyoke College tomorrow, facing Tufts at 11 a.m. and Colby at 3 p.m.