The volleyball team went 2-1 in its final weekend of the regular season, sweeping Middlebury and Hamilton while falling to Williams. The team finished with a 6-4 record in NESCAC play and is seeded fifth for this weekend’s conference tournament, which begins Friday night at Amherst. The Cardinals will now turn their attention to their first round foe, Connecticut College.

Wesleyan opened the weekend with a match against Williams at Connecticut College. The Cardinals entered hoping to end their 11-match losing streak against the Ephs and avenge a 3-1 loss at Wellesley earlier this season. Williams, however, had other ideas, and won the first game 30-25 before cruising to a 30-19 win in the second that put the Cardinals in a 0-2 hole. Wesleyan fought hard but fell in game three, 30-22, to give Williams the 3-0 win.

Wesleyan committed 29 attacking errors in the match, the highest total in the team’s past five contests. They finished the match with a .108 hitting percentage. The Cardinals have finished with a sub-.200 hitting percentage eight times this season and are 1-7 in those matches. Williams has a combined hitting percentage of .245 in both of its matches against Wesleyan this season; only three other teams (MIT, Vassar, and Tufts) have cracked the .200 barrier against the Cardinals this year.

Tri-captain Jettie Word ’08 attributed the loss primarily to the team’s unfortunate error total. “We made too many unforced errors in the match,” Word said.

Following the defeat to Williams, the Cardinals rebounded with a strong effort against Middlebury. The Cardinals started the match with a 30-17 win in the first game before Middlebury played a much better second game with the Cards still winning narrowly 30-27. The Cardinals squeaked by in the third game as well, winning 30-28 and snapping a four-match losing streak against the Panthers. The match was Middlebury’s first 3-0 loss in conference play this season and marked the fourth time in Wesleyan’s ten victories over the Panthers that came by way of a shutout.

The Cardinals ended the weekend with a match against Hamilton, a team fighting for its playoff life. Wesleyan won the first two games 30-19, which was the fourth time this season the Cardinals held an opponent under 20 points in the first two games. Hamilton managed to crack the 20-point barrier in the third, but Wesleyan still cruised to a 30-21 victory to secure the 3-0 win. The match was Wesleyan’s seventh straight triumph over the Continentals of Hamilton.

Wesleyan was once again impressive on the stat sheet throughout the weekend. Outside hitter Lisa Drennan ’09 finished with 41 kills in the three matches and also added 10 digs. Setter Ellie Healy ’10 recorded 109 assists and 31 digs, and defensive specialist Ruby Hernandez ’11 racked up 44 digs. Outside hitter Becca Rodger ’08 also had a strong showing in her final regular-season weekend, chipping in 31 digs and 24 kills.

Wesleyan must now begin preparations for the NESCAC tournament, which begins next weekend when the Cards face the Camels of Connecticut College. Wesleyan has played Connecticut College twice this season, defeating the Camels 3-2 in the MIT Tournament and falling by the same score in New London. Wesleyan currently holds a 2-1 record against their in-state foes in the conference tournament’s history; the Cardinals defeated the Camels twice in the 1991 tournament, 2-1 and 2-0, but fell 2-0 in 1994. (Until 1996, some matches were played in a best-of-three format, rather than the current best-of-five system.)

Amherst, which finished the regular season in first place, will host the tournament this year. Wesleyan lost both of its matches at Amherst this season (against Tufts and the Lord Jeffs) and holds an overall record of 10-8 in matches played at Amherst since 2000.

Wesleyan’s last nine matches have been decided by 3-0 scores, with the Cardinals winning five of the nine. Word believes that the NESCAC tournament will bring feast rather than famine for the Cards.

“Because we’re so evenly matched, mental preparation will be very important,” she said. “We definitely have the edge it will take to win against [Connecticut] this Friday.”

Friday’s match begins at 8:00 p.m. If the Cardinals win, they will play the winner of the Amherst-Bowdoin match at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday; the championship match will be played at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.