This past Saturday, while most students were busy catching up on schoolwork or relaxing on Foss, the Wes volleyball squad traveled to New Hampshire to rack up back-to-back wins against Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) and host Rivier College.

In the first ever match between the two schools, Wesleyan faced off against an overmatched Wentworth team and won in straight sets, 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-15). Wentworth proved to be no match for a talented Wesleyan squad, who achieved season-highs in both hitting percentage with .406 and service aces (20), while simultaneously notching the fewest hitting errors on the year with just four. Outside hitter Casey Reed ’12 ratcheted up fourteen kills of the thirty-two the team collected in the match, maintaining her dominance in that category and improving upon her average of nearly four kills a set this year (3.87 as of the writing of this article).  Defensively, the Cardinals were led by Laura Volgenau ’13 and Kim Farris ’14 who each had two blocks, as well as Ruby Hernandez ’11 who had a team-high nine digs. Farris also contributed heavily to the offense, adding a team high six service aces for good measure.

After making short work of WIT, and with their overall record standing at 3-3 on the year (1-1 NESCAC), Wesleyan looked forward to their match against Rivier as a chance to run their record above .500. All indications pointed toward this being tougher than the preceding match, since Rivier had also dispatched Wentworth in straight sets earlier in the day. Despite the threat of a closer match, Wesleyan continued their three-match winning streak by handily defeating Rivier 3-1 (25-15, 25-23, 19-25, 25-21). It was the second straight match against a school that Wes volleyball had never faced as well as the second win on the day. Volgenau once again anchored the defense, doubling her blocks from the game before, to bring her total on the day to six. Setter Laura Yim ’13 collected fifty-four assists over the course of the day, bringing her seasonal total to a team-leading two hundred and thirteen assists on the year.

With their record now standing at the highest point it has been this year, the Cards look to build upon their recent success as they travel to face Western Connecticut State this coming Wednesday.