Courtesy of Brian Beard

The volleyball team (2-1; 0-0 NESCAC) started their season at the Bear Invite in St. Louis, Mo., this past weekend. They opened the tournament with wins against Wheaton College (2-3) and St. Olaf (3-1), and they finished out the weekend with a 3-0 loss to No. 14 nationally ranked Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) (3-1).

Playing against three high-ranked non-conference teams to open the season was a strategic play by Head Coach Erin Cady. This decision gave players the opportunity to play opponents that will have a higher ranking, which can help the team’s overall ranking. Another benefit of having the trip in the beginning of the season was that students missed fewer classes.

“[We came into the season] really excited with the returners’ experience, and then [with] adding in our first-year class, more fault control and a fierce competitive mindset for the overall group has been really exciting to see,” Cady said.

In terms of what the rest of the season could hold, Cady is optimistic.

“I think that with this group, what’s so exciting is how quickly they take, whether it be a team concept, skill or strategy, and are able to implement it right away,” Cady said. “I’m excited to see their growth in such a short amount of time, which I’ve already seen. But where can we go from here?”

Outside hitter Zoe Ryu ’29 was a key component of the team’s success this weekend. Ryu was a strong player last season and noted that her disappointment with the season’s ending has fueled her gameplay.

“I think personally, I was super excited [to start the season],” Ryu said. “We have a really strong returning base from last year.”

The Polar Bears won their match against Wheaton College three sets to two sets, and against St. Olaf three to one. The effort put into these close matches carried over into the WashU game despite the team losing in three sets.

“[The other teams] were good,” Ryu said. “I think [the games] were definitely hard. The WashU game didn’t go the way we wanted, but we kind of talked about how we played to win even though we did lose, and I think we were really proud of how we played.”

Right side/outside hitter Tamara Gisiger ’28 had four blocks and six kills in the WashU game. Gisiger stated that her role as an upperclassman is meaningful because she gets to be part of a group of hard workers.

“[WashU] has a really good reputation, but when you take into perspective the fact that we’ve only been practicing for less than two weeks, and we had [first years] out there who had less than a week on the court, it just makes me even more excited for our really tough schedule to come because we got started right away,” Gisiger said.

The team starts NESCAC play when they face Tufts (2-2; 0-0 NESCAC) at the Tufts Invitational in Medford, Mass. Tufts is ranked second in the nation, making the game highly anticipated for the Polar Bears.

“I’m just excited to learn from our mistakes in the past weekend, know that we are such a powerful team and just leave everything we’ve got on the court this weekend,” Gisiger said.

After their string of away games, the team is looking forward to playing the University of Southern Maine (USM) (1-4) at home on September 16.

“I really don’t say it lightly when I say that this team this year is super special, and having people come to our games and that energy and atmosphere of people supporting us genuinely just makes us want to work even harder,” Gisiger said. “So if we have more [Polar] Bears show up, especially in a schedule that has so many more games, especially home games, I think that would make all the more difference.”