The volleyball team trounced the University of New England 3-0 on the road Wednesday night. The non-conference win against the Nor'easters improves the Polar Bears' record to 4-1 for the season.
Bowdoin easily cruised to victory with game scores of 25-17, 25-16 and 25-15, handily claiming their third straight win.
Melissa Haskell '13 led the team with nine kills and 10 digs to lead the Polar Bears. Hillary Cederna '13 and captain Kristin Hanczor '12 racked up eight kills apiece, and Sophia Cornew '14 notched 30 assists in the victory.
The win continues a longstanding Bowdoin winning streak against UNE, extending its dominance over the Nor'easters to 10 consecutive wins stretching back over six years. Not only have the Polar Bears won all of their matches against UNE, but they have completely shut the team out, picking up 27 consecutive sets.
The win came after a successful first weekend for the Bowdoin, which went 3-1 at the Endicott invitational.
In its opening match last Friday afternoon, the team shut out Schreiner College 3-0 with scores of 27-25, 25-10 and 25-20 before falling to nationally-ranked UMass-Boston 3-1 later that day, with scores of 25-23, 25-18, 22-25 and 25-23.
Hanczor led the team with 11 kills during the Schreiner victory. During the hard-fought loss to UMass-Boston, both Hanczor and Haskell racked up 12 kills each, while Jillian Berkman '12 had 26 digs. Cornew supported the Polar Bear attack with 42 assists.
The team continued to find success on the court on Saturday, taking a 3-0 win over Plymouth State before winning a fiercely contested 3-2 victory against St. Mary's (Minn.).
After handily defeating Plymouth State, Bowdoin faced a tough challenge from St. Mary's, forcing its defense to step up its game. Hanczor set a new school record with 12 blocks, five solo, seven assists, as the team earned seven solo and 22 blocks altogether.
Several players recorded double-digit digs, led by libero Taylor Vail '14 with 25. Cornew again led the team in assists with 47, helping Hanzcor and Haskell notch 17 and 16 kills, respectively.
In her record-breaking performance against St. Mary's, Hanczor averaged 3.13 blocks per set at a .481 hitting percentage. She was named to the all-tournament team and was named the NESCAC Volleyball Player of the Week for the second time in her career.
"I am very proud of the team's performance this weekend," she said. "We knew from day one that this weekend was a huge opportunity for us to prove ourselves and what we can accomplish this year. We did a great job playing together and working on the little things, making the big wins happen."
In light of the weekend's successes, Haskell praised the team's talents and consistency.
"We are solid in every position on the court," she said. "We can trust each other and know that every girl out there is going to get her job done. Our greatest strength is our balanced attack with strong hitters all around."
The Polar Bears will next take to the court this weekend in a pair of home matches and one road game. Later today, they will compete in their first NESCAC conference game of the season against Colby at 7 p.m.
Bowdoin takes on Roger Williams at noon tomorrow and travels to Lewiston to take on Bates Sunday at 2 p.m.