The volleyball team fell in the first round of the NESCAC tournament last Friday, dropping a 3-0 decision to Connecticut College. The first-round exit was the team’s fifth in the last six seasons since advancing to the finals during 2001. However, the team finished the season 17-8, good enough for its highest winning percentage (.680) since 2001 (30-6; .833).

The match began inauspiciously for the Cardinals, who suffered a 30-16 setback in the first game. The second game was much closer in score, but Wesleyan eventually fell, 34-32. The game was the Cardinals’ first to go to 34 points since the second game of a 2004 match against Roger Williams, and represented the Cardinals’ fourth loss in a game this season by two points (by rule, teams must win a game by at least two points). The previous two matches involving two-point losses ended up as 3-0 losses for the Cardinals, and this one would end in the same manner. With their season on the line, the Cardinals fought valiantly in the third game but fell 30-26, ending their tournament run early for the sixth consecutive year.

“Both teams played very well in the Connecticut match, but Connecticut really took control when they pulled out the second game,” said tri-captain Jettie Word ’08. “I really believe that if we had taken that second game, we would have pulled out the match.”

Statistically speaking, the Camels played one of the best matches of any of Wesleyan’s opponents this season. Connecticut recorded 47 kills and committed only 13 errors—the second-lowest total of the Cardinals’ opponents this season, trailing only SUNY-Old Westbury (11). The Camels finished with a .260 hitting percentage, tied with Tufts for third-highest this season.

The loss lowered Wesleyan’s all-time record in NESCAC tournament matches at Amherst, which also hosted the tournament in 1993, to 1-4. Additionally, since the NESCAC became a playing conference in 2000, Wesleyan had just a .455 winning percentage in all matches played at Amherst, its fourth-lowest in that category.

Wesleyan entered the match as the fifth seed after finishing with a 6-4 conference record, one game behind Tufts and Connecticut. The Cardinals beat all six teams that finished below them and lost to all four that finished above them; if Wesleyan had won one of those four games, the overall results from the weekend suggest that their fate may have been different. All four top seeds advanced to the semifinals (with eighth-seeded Bowdoin the only team to win a game), and the championship match pitted number-one Amherst against number-two Williams. This tournament marked the third time since the NESCAC began seeding teams in 2001 that the top seeds won each match through the semifinals, along with 2003 and 2004.Each year, Wesleyan has entered as a lower-seeded team and lost its first-round match. Overall, Wesleyan is 0-5 when seeded fifth or lower (and has lost in the first round each time) but is 3-2 when seeded fourth or higher, including a trip to the finals in 2001.

Despite the heartbreaking end, the team has a number of positives to draw from the season. In addition to finishing with its highest winning percentage in six years, next semester the team will return with a roster replete with talent. Outside hitter Lisa Drennan ’09, who led the NESCAC in kills for the second consecutive season (finishing with 5.51 per game, just shy of her record of 5.56 per game set in 2006) will return for her senior season. Additionally, setter Ellie Healy ’10, who is currently second in the NESCAC with 11.42 assists per game, still has two years left. Amherst’s leader in assists, Sara Heller, still has at least one match left, as Amherst qualified for the NCAA tournament, meaning that Healy could possibly finish first in the NESCAC for the second straight year. Drennan was named first team all-NESCAC for the second straight year, and Healy was named second team all-NESCAC.

The Cardinals will also return with a talented frosh class, including Ruby Hernandez ’11, who led the team (and finished eighth overall in the NESCAC) with 4.82 digs per game. Hernandez also set the single-match record with 36 digs against Connecticut College on October 3. With 419 digs for the season, she may be on track to challenge the Wesleyan career record of 1,887, set by Tory Molnar ’07. While the loss of three seniors—Caroline Rober ’08, Becca Rodger ’08, and Word—cannot be overstated, it appears that the team has the talent to weather this loss and continue to be a force in the NESCAC in the coming years.