Despite a valiant effort, volleyball suffered another demoralizing weekend as the team lost to both conference and non-conference opponents. The Cardinals fell on Friday, Oct. 5 to the Lord Jeffs of Amherst and on Saturday, Oct. 6, to the Trinity Bantams and the Roger Williams Hawks.

Although Wesleyan entered the match with every hope of securing a dual NESCAC and Little Three victory, Amherst handily bested the Cardinals 3-0 with set scores of 12-25, 18-25, and 13-25 respectively. Key leaders for the Cardinals in their endeavors against Amherst included Kate Centofanti ’14, who had a team-high of 29 assists, and Laura Volgenau ’13, who posted a solid six kills.  Sofia Davila ’16 led the team defensively by racking up 16 digs, almost double that of any of her teammates.

Saturday saw the Cardinals face two more opponents on the road at the Trinity College gymnasium. To start the day Wesleyan took things down to the wire against the Bantams before falling to their intrastate rivals 2-3. Trinity found victory in the first, fourth, and fifth sets, with scores of 9-25, 18-25, and 9-25, respectively, while Wesleyan secured wins in the second and third sets by margins of 28-26 and 25-14.

Aside from their notable display of team chemistry, the Cardinals had several standout individual performances in their match against Trinity. Centofanti once again led the team in assists with an impressive 40. Kim Farris ’14 had 13 kills, and Davila had a solid 23 digs.

That same afternoon, Wesleyan met the Hawks of Roger Williams University. Although the Cardinals had a strong start, they ultimately fell 3-0 with set scores of 19-25, 16-25, and 19-25.  The Hawks simply outplayed the Cardinals, doubling both their team blocking and hitting averages. If there was a bright spot for Wesleyan on the match, it was certainly Centofanti, who racked up another 30 assists in this match to bring her weekend total to a stunning 99.

Women’s volleyball currently stands at a disappointing 4-11 in overall play and 0-7 in the NESCAC. While they are brimming with talent, the Cardinals just have not been able to harness their collective energy in conference play yet. This weekend, they return to NESCAC play in the Silloway Gym, where they hope to use home-court advantage to gain their first league win of the season. They take on Colby on Friday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m., and Bates on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m.