On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23 and 24, the Wesleyan volleyball team competed in its second weekend tournament of the season. The Cardinals traveled by plane to compete in the Gargoyle Classic on the University of Chicago campus. The weekend marked the first time in the program’s 28-year varsity history that the Cardinals played over 300 miles away from Wesleyan’s campus.
The Cardinals faced foes who were both unfamiliar and formidable in the four weekend contests, squaring off against Benedictine University, Central College, Elmhurst College and Trinity Christian College. The first night of action left the Cardinals winless against both Illinois-based opponent Benedictine and Central, which hails from neighboring Iowa. The Cardinals were swept in both matches, with the tighter contest coming against Central, which Wesleyan played to three close sets.
Wesleyan’s Saturday action opened against Elmhurst, with similar results to the opening night. Elmhurst took the match by 3-0 score. The fourth and final match of the weekend pitted the Cardinals against Trinity Christian. Wes snared the first set 25-22, but fell short in the following three, leaving the team with a 0-4 mark on the weekend against some of the Midwest’s best in Division III; the four opponents have a combined record of 45-19 on the year.
The only one of the teams that Wesleyan had previously played was Benedictine, whom the Cardinals defeated at MIT in a 2008 invitational tournament. The Cardinals did not face off against the host, University of Chicago, which holds an impressive 15-1 record thus far.
The top performers of the weekend for Wes were Monica Leslie ’14, captain Casey Reed ’12, and Laura Yim ’13, who led the Cards in blocks, kills, and assists, respectively. Wesleyan, whose mark on the season stands at 2-9, returns to the friendly confines of the Silloway Gymnasium for its next match, as the squad is slated to play in-state rival Western Connecticut for the 38th contest between the two schools. Last season, Western Connecticut took down Wesleyan 3-1, while in 2009, the Cardinals swept the match 3-0.