The Wesleyan volleyball team came back against Hamilton (3-0) and Middlebury (3-1) on Saturday after dropping to Williams (0-3) on Friday.
The team evened its mark in NESCAC to 5-5 at the final NESCAC Weekend hosted at the Alumni Fieldhouse.
In the last preparatory weekend before the NESCAC Tournament, the Cardinals bring their final season record to 18-11 overall.
The Friday night tournament opener against the Ephs saw the Cardinals using their teamwork to battle the Purple Cows. The Alumni Fieldhouse was on fire with the Cardinals and the Ephs battling the noise from the Connecticut College vs. Middlebury game. Although the NESCAC number one seeded Ephs ended the Cardinals’ six-game win streak, the Cardinals still posted some amazing numbers. NESCAC assists leader Katie Annand ’05 posted 33 in the game, while Tory Molnar ’07 recorded seventeen digs. The offense and defense were there for the Cardinals but the Ephs just brought their “A” game.
“We had a great weekend. The game against Williams was a tough loss, but we saw a lot of people step up their performance and really produce for the team. Despite the fact that Williams won, we did a lot of good things and even made them have to change up their offense in the second game,” said Erin Reding ’06.
While Purple Cows grazed on Cardinal turf for the Homecoming games Saturday morning, the volleyball team was busy handling the Hamilton Continentals. Sweeping the Continentals 30-25, 30-13, 30-17, the Cardinals again saw more players stepping up their game. Katie Sterns ’06 aided Annand in assists, posting seven of her own. Serving was a strong point for Wes this weekend as Reding and Melissa DeCew ’04 both posted five service aces, as Carey Myslewski ’07 contributed four more. The Cardinals are ranked second in NESCAC for service aces with 2.95 per game.
The Cardinals finished up the tournament with a clash with the Middlebury Panthers. Both teams were a little drained from the weekend’s play, but the Cardinals came out to dominate. The Cardinals recorded 61 kills, fourteen from Rebecca Mintz ’05, twelve from Reding, and ten from Tiffany Bryan ’06. The Cardinals are ranked third in kills with almost fourteen per game. Reding also recorded two blocks along with Myslewski. Annand recorded 51 set assists, bringing her season total to 1067 with an average 11.47 assists per game. Annand’s statistics is the main reason why the Cardinals are ranked third in NESCAC for assists. Libero Tory Molnar brought her season total digs to 435 for the year bringing in 24 against the Panthers. The Cardinals ripped the Panthers 3-1, (30-24, 24-30, 30-16, 30-26).
“I think that this weekend has prepared us well for the upcoming tournament. We knew coming into the weekend that Wesleyan was the match to win. I think we lost our steam a little against Wesleyan. They’re a very good team, and it was a competitive match, and we looked a little tired. We couldn’t afford to be tired against Wesleyan. I feel like we’re well matched, and they played better than we did and won,” said Head Coach Sarah Rauneck.
“We are pleased with our performance this past weekend. We learned that we can play with anyone in the conference and that gives us a great deal of confidence going into the
conference championships,” said Head Coach Gale Lackey.
In the first round of NESCAC, the Cardinals are hoping to give the Colby Mules a kick in their pants. The Mules are ranked third in NESCAC with a 22-8 record overall (8-2 NESCAC). The Cardinals dropped a drag-out match to the Mules earlier this season 2-3 (30-22, 21-30, 30-27, 22-30, 11-15). Wes hopes to put this match in the past and step-up to win this weekend.
“I’m looking forward to this upcoming weekend because NESCAC is a very rounded league this year where everyone is just about on the same level competitively speaking. This upcoming weekend is all about who shows up to play. Anyone can take anyone it will be very exciting to see what happens,” Reding said.
“We like our draw going into this weekend. Colby is a team we have been looking forward to playing again. Getting a big win in the quarter finals this weekend has been a goal for us this season,” Lackey said. “We would love to keep setting goals throughout the weekend and beyond!”
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