The women’s volleyball team battled through an up and down series of matches this week, emerging with a 2-2 record in their past four games, bringing them to an overall record of 15 wins and 8 losses.
The team’s week began with an easy victory at home on Wednesday, Oct. 12 against Western Connecticut University. After pulling out a tight first set 33-31, the Cardinals began to roll, taking the last two sets 30-22 and 30-23. The team was brilliant on offense, recording 50 kills to Western Connecticut’s 34, and not allowing a single block by the Western Connecticut team.
The Cardinals went into the weekend hoping to improve upon their 3-3 record in NESCAC, but unfortunately, the team’s winning ways did not continue into the weekend. On Saturday, the Cardinals dropped two matches at Trinity College. In their first match, the women lost 3-1 (32-30, 18-30, 20-30, 17-30) against their hosts, as Wesleyan’s attack struggled against the Bantams. The Cardinals’ frustration would continue to mount as they dropped their second match of the day as well, this time to Connecticut College. The match was very close, with Wesleyan mounting a strong comeback from a two game deficit to tie the match, but unfortunately the Camels were able to pull out the deciding set 15 points to 8.
Despite the loss, there were plenty of bright spots for the Cardinals. The greatest of these was the 30 digs recorded by Tory Molnar ’07 who has played spectacularly all year, averaging 4.81 digs per game, ranking her fifth in the conference. Also, Jettie Word ’08 and Lisa Drennan ’09 recorded 20 and 19 kills respectively, helping Wesleyan pull out 20 more kills than the Camels. But Connecticut College was able to offset this difference.
“They have a really great defense and we didn’t adjust to that in time,” Word said.
The Cardinals managed to bounce back at home on Wednesday, Oct. 19, defeating Eastern Connecticut on Senior Night. The women managed to overcome losing the first game to take the match in five. “We started off sloppy,” Word said.
But because of the occasion, the Cardinals were especially determined to turn the match around.
“We created energy,” Drennan said. “We wanted to win for the seniors.”
The home crowd at the Freeman gym reflected this energy. In the end, both players and their fans got what they wanted, a win for their departing leaders.
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