On the road this weekend at New York University’s Violet Classic Tournament, the Wesleyan women’s volleyball team fought hard, but ultimately suffered defeat at the hands of NYU, Susquehanna University, and Haverford College.

The team commenced its opening round of play on Friday, Sept. 21 against the host team. Wesleyan came out strong, tying their opponents at 18-18 and then going on a 7-2 run to clinch a 25-20 set win. Of particular note in this first set was junior Kim Farris’s final ace, which definitively clinched the Cardinal victory. In the subsequent sets, however, NYU powered back, taking the match by winning the next three sets 25-11, 25-18, and 25-12.

Farris led the Cardinals as per usual, contributing eight kills, an ace, four digs, and two blocks in this match. Freshman Sophia Davila once again was the defensive star, with a notable twelve digs, while sophomore Claire Larson had nine digs of her own and a team-high nineteen assists. Junior Monica Leslie was the team leader in kills, with eleven.

On Saturday, Sept. 22, the Wesleyan faced Susquehanna University for the first time in school history. Looking to bounce back after their loss the previous day, the Cardinal women played Susquehanna close, but ultimately fell in a clean 3-0 sweep. Despite never gaining a substantial lead in any of the three sets against Susquehanna, the Cardinals kept the games tight. The final scores of the sets were 25-16, 25-18, and 25-19. Monica Leslie was the Cardinals’ MVP for this match, with nine kills and a .350 hitting percentage.  Claire Larson had twenty-five assists and led the team with eight digs.

The final match of the weekend set the Cardinals against the Black Squirrels of Haverford College. Having never lost to Haverford before, the Cardinals went into the match hoping to end the weekend on a positive note. Things did not go Wesleyan’s way, however, as Haverford swept the match, 3-0. Once again, Wesleyan did not lose a set by more than nine points. Claire Larson continued to pace the team in assists, recording 21 to go along with 14 kills. Farris also delivered for the Cardinals with seven kills.

“We are all learned a lot playing these new teams this weekend and are really working to bring that effort into this week’s matches,” Larson said.

Farris elaborated on the team’s strategy for making the best of disappointing tournament results.

“It was a great experience playing out of region teams,” she said, “and even though we didn’t do as well as we hoped, we have improved so much since the beginning of the season. This week we hope to work on playing at our faster tempo and on diversifying our offense in order to prep for our midweek match and two NESCAC matches coming up.”

Next Wednesday, Sept. 26, the Cardinals go back on the road to take on Western Connecticut State University.