Emily Fuller

Last weekend the women’s volleyball team (10-1, 3-0 NESCAC) experienced its first loss of the season to Johnson and Wales University (14-1). The Rhode Island team is currently ranked fourth in the country. Despite the loss, the team is still undefeated in the NESCAC.

According to Captain Sydney Salle ’19, the team did not make any specific mistakes that lead to its defeat. JWU proved more competitive than teams the Polar Bears have faced before.

“We had a few errors on our side that could easily be cleaned up,” said Salle. “But they were a good team and we played them really hard.” The loss did not get the team down, as JWU is a strong team.

“They were probably the toughest competition we have seen and probably will see the whole season,” said Salle. “Everyone is really excited moving into the season.”

This weekend, Bowdoin will travel to face one of its largest NESCAC rivals. Williams (7-5, 2-1 NESCAC) has not hosted a Bowdoin-Williams volleyball match in three years.

“We have already seen posts on Williams’ Facebook page that they are rallying people to come to the game,” Salle said. “We haven’t played them at [their] home since our freshman year, so it will be a big turn out on their end. They are coming out to beat us this year for sure.”

The team remains confident in their overall goals for the rest of their season to stay undefeated in the NESCAC, in an attempt to host the conference games at home, and to appear in the NCAA tournament.

“Right now our biggest goal is to go undefeated, or do our best to go undefeated, in NESCAC to get the NESCAC hosting rights for the tournament,” said Salle. “From then we are focusing on game to game of getting into the NCAA tournament again.”

The Polar Bears hope to continue their NESCAC winning streak in Massachusetts with Ashley Williams ’21, the NESCAC Player of the Week, on the front line.