The women's volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 2-3 loss to the Endicott College Gulls on Tuesday night. The match at Endicott left the Polar Bears with a record of 16-10 for the season while Endicott improved to 18-14 overall.
The match was a battle until the very end, with the Polar Bears winning the first and third sets before finally falling 15-7 in the fifth set. Sophomore Melissa Haskell led the team with 15 kills, 13 digs and two aces.
There were strong performances all around with Sophomore Hilary Cederna earning 13 kills while Kristin Hanczor '12 came home with 10.
The team also received valuable contributions by two first years. Taylor Vail '14 made 33 digs and Sophia Cornew '14 amassed 38 assists.
Last weekend, the Polar Bears finished an impressive second at the Hall of Fame Tournament at Smith College and Mount Holyoke College.
After finishing 10th in the same tournament last year, the team advanced to the championship match, where it fell to NESCAC rival Middlebury 3-0 for the third time this season.
In an exciting victory, the Polar Bears defeated the NESCAC's first-place team, Amherst College, 3-1.
The sixth-seeded Polar Bears opened the tournament last Friday night in a thrilling five-set upset against third-seeded Springfield College.
"I think we really proved to ourselves the high level of play that we are capable of," said senior Stephanie Drumright. "We flowed well together because as a team our talent and drive to win finally came together."
Confidence was a crucial element to the team's success at the tournament.
"There was a confidence on the court and among the players that was unbreakable," Drumright said. "We trusted each other to get the job done and, as we have been talking about throughout our season, every player was on the same page at the same time. That's why we won."
"Overall, I think the weekend was a confidence booster, in the sense that we now know how well we can play when we really go after it," added first year Ellie Brennan. "When we play to our full potential, we take our game to a whole new level."
Hanczor distinguished herself over the course of the tournament, adding 13 kills in both the Springfield and Amherst matches and another two in the Middlebury defeat, earning herself All-Tournament honors.
As a further honor, Hanczor was named NESCAC women's volleyball Player of the Week for the second time. The first time she was awarded the distinction was in 2008 during her rookie year.
The Polar Bears close out their regular season this Saturday in a Senior Day double-header at home against Emerson and Keene State beginning at 10 a.m.