The volleyball team’s season concluded on Friday with a 3-0 loss in the NESCAC tournament quarterfinals to number-one seed Tufts. Wesleyan finished NESCAC play with a 4-7 record, its first sub-.500 mark in conference action since 2005 (3-8, including a first-round loss to Colby). However, the Cardinals played many close matches, and six of the Cardinals’ ten league matches were decided in five sets, by far the highest figure among the eleven NESCAC squads. Wesleyan was also one of only two conference teams to take down NESCAC champion Williams this season, and the team earned a share of the Little Three crown for the second consecutive year.
Although the match was a sweep, the Cardinals gave an excellent effort against Tufts, and two out of the three sets were decided by margins of two points. In the first set, the Cardinals battled back and forth with the Jumbos, eventually taking a 24-23 lead, but the team could not capitalize on its advantage, and the Cards lost the frame 29-27. The second was similar to the first, with high-quality volleyball being played on both sides of the net, but Tufts proved to have a slight advantage, and narrowly closed out the set 25-23. The third did not go the Cardinals’ way, and after losing two extremely close sets, the Cards dropped the final frame, 25-16.
This was the final match for co-captains Ellie Healy ’10 and Ashley Farrow ’10, both of whom had distinguished careers playing for Wesleyan. Healy, a four-year starter, finished her career second all-time in total assists, racking up an astounding 4,079. Her career average of 10.54 assists per set ranks first on the all-time list. Farrow ended the year as Wesleyan’s leader in hitting percentage with a solid .290 mark, while also averaging 2.75 kills per set, second-highest on the team behind Casey Reed ’12 (3.16).
After starting out 0-6, the Cardinals had a great second half of the season, winning 13 of their final 21 matches. The team defeated some very good squads and lost close matches to some of the top teams in the NESCAC. Although the loss of Healy and Farrow is going to be tough on the team next year, there are many young players who are highly capable of performing on the court. We can only assume that some of the standout players of this year, including Reed, Alissa Santucci ’12, Lesley Faulkner ’11, and Ruby Hernandez ’11, will be returning to the squad next year with something to prove as the Cardinals look to continue their tradition of excellence.
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