Volleyball crushes Conn.

The volleyball team beat a feisty Connecticut College on Wednesday night, 3-0, in a dominating performance. However, the Camels put up a fight the entire time, and it took Wes’ best effort to win its seventh game in a row and move to 14-4 (3-1 NESCAC) on the season.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 17-11 lead in the first set, but Connecticut came back strong after calling a timeout. The team pulled within two points of the Cards at 19-17, behind strong play from senior outside hitter Caitlin Tomasca. However, sparked by a kill by Ashley Farrow ’10, Wes prevailed in a close set, 25-22.

During the second set, both teams showed a great ability to dig the ball, and the defensive struggle continued until Wes was up 19-16. However, after that, the Cards lost only one more point en route to a 25-16 set victory.

Numerous contributors made great plays, including a big block by Farrow and a leaping tip by Alicia Garrison ’09. Casey Reed ’12 was outstanding as well, with a kill and an ace, but perhaps the biggest statement was made by Lisa Drennan ’09, who rocketed one kill down on the Camels with the force of one of Zeus’ lightning bolts. At that point, the fairly sizeable student crowd went nuts, and Connecticut never fully recovered, losing the second set to Wes 25-16.

Despite that setback, the Camels came out with energy in the third set, using some very enthusiastic support from their bench as motivation to take a 2-0 lead just 10 seconds into the set. But Drennan put an end to the Camels’ run as quickly as it had begun, sending down another laser of a kill that sparked a 5-1 Wes run. After that, however, it seemed as though the Cardinals got a bit sloppy—they were missing digs, setting errantly and getting called for carrying the ball. They let the Camels back into it, and the rest of the set was a nail-biter, as Connecticut, led by Tomasca and junior outside hitter Lauren Wise, kept it close until the very end.

At the end of the day, though, Wesleyan’s athleticism was just too much for the Camels. Reed continued her great play, including a great tip into the very corner of the court in between two Camel defenders.

Wesleyan ended the match with a bang, winning its last three points on powerful kills by Drennan and Reed. Drennan’s spike on match point was set up by great defense by her teammates, who made three great digs to keep the point alive. But the shot of the night might have been Ellie Healy ’10’s backwards tip over her head that sent three Camels diving to the floor in vain.

During the entire match, but especially in the final set, Reed, Drennan and Healy exhibited great hustle and team spirit, cheering on teammates during points. This attitude spread throughout the team infectiously, and the Cardinals were loose, energetic and positive the whole match. In particular, Ruby Hernandez ’11 killed the Camels’ spirits by digging their best attempts at kills, and even got to a ball once that was practically in the stands.

But the most consistent Cardinal was Healy, who had 27 assists and nine digs. This week she was named NESCAC Co-Player of the Week, with 138 assists in three matches, all wins for the Cardinals. She leads the NESCAC and is ranked in the top 25 in Division III with 10.1 assists per match.

Healy provided some great perspective after the match.

“The win last night was awesome,” she said. “We played our best game yet. For the past couple years we have had problems with peaking early in the season, but this year it seems to be coming at the right time. Everyone played very well and we came together perfectly. We knew that our energy on the court was going to play a big role in how we did, because that is a big part of their game, so our energy and the energy of the crowd really helped us. Conn is a really good team, so this win was super important for us.”

The Cardinals will look to extend their victory streak to eight straight matches Friday night at Trinity, which beat Wes 3-1 last Saturday.