The volleyball team extended its winning streak to 10 games last weekend with a sweep of Trinity and Wesleyan. Undefeated in the NESCAC, the squad has dominated throughout its matches, losing only two sets out of the last 32.
A number of individual achievements have accompanied the team’s continued success. Two weeks ago, captain Christy Jewett ’16 was named the NESCAC Volleyball Player of the Week as she achieved 1,161 career kills, the second highest number in Bowdoin history. Jewett saw the conference accolade as more of a team accomplishment than an individual one.
“Obviously it feels great to be honored, but one thing that I’ve really become aware of is that nobody ever wins Player of the Week without a really strong team backing her,” said Jewett.
Jewett is on pace to break the six-year-old Bowdoin career record of 1,227 kills held by Gillian Page ‘10 by the end of the season. Last year, Jewett set the single-season school records for most kills and attacks with 445 and 1158, respectively.
Katie Doherty ’17 also entered the record book this season, as she became the sixth player in Bowdoin history to reach 1,000 career digs.
“If our team weren’t as strong as it is, I don’t think that would’ve been possible to accomplish,” said Doherty.
With a full season of Bowdoin volleyball left, Doherty has plenty of opportunities to move up through the all-time rankings, yet the statistics are not what keep her motivated. For Doherty, the effect her accomplishments had on the rest of the team impacted her more than the number itself.
“[Reaching 1,000 digs] was one of the most amazing moments of my life, simply because of the atmosphere and how amazing my team is,” said Doherty. “I was just so inspired by how excited everyone else was. It was amazing not because I valued it but because of how much everyone else valued it.”
The team has accomplished a lot already, but its season is far from over. The volleyball program heads into a high stakes Homecoming Weekend facing fellow NESCAC competitors Amherst and Williams.
“Everyone’s really excited for this weekend,” said Doherty. “This is the moment that will really define us as a team. We’ll see if we can cement our first place in the NESCAC.”
With this excitement comes extra focus and determination as the program prepares for its biggest challenge and the largest threat to its streak so far.
“It’s really confidence boosting to have a streak like that but we’re going to be really challenged this weekend,” said Jewett. “Our winning streak is a good measure of success but this weekend will be an even better measure of what we can do.”
Williams and Amherst are ranked number two and three respectively in the NESCAC, and the team has to take down Williams on Saturday at 2 p.m. in order to host the NESCAC tournament at the end of the season—an advantage keenly sought after by the team.
“We emphasize how we’re in the driver’s seat right now,” said Head Coach Erin Cady, “We have the power to control our own destiny and look at it like it’s a power or an opportunity instead of pressure to perform.”
While this weekend may be daunting to some, the squad is eager to rise to the challenge.
“The easy part will be the team [being] mentally motivated and ready and physically motivated to go out and perform against Williams,” said Cady. “I definitely can tell you our players are ready and motivated for that match.”
The team remains focused on continuous improvement and leaning into the discomfort of learning new skills.
“Something that [Cady] does really well that’s helped our team is to keep us uncomfortable in practice by challenging us to do new things every time we’ve successfully done something,” said Doherty. “That just allows us to keep raising our play no matter who we’re playing.”
“We’re consistently working,” said Jewett. “Once we fix something, [Cady] will scout us like she will scout a different team. We’ve been working on finding ways that they would exploit us so that we can fix it before they have a chance to find those.”
Luckily the team hasn’t had any serious injuries and with everyone ready and available to do their best, the team continues on their fast track to the NESCAC tournament with high expectations for their performance.