After beating Colby and Bates this past weekend, the Bowdoin Volleyball team finished the regular season with a conference record of 9-1, securing the top seed for the NESCAC Championship and the right to host the tournament, which will take place this weekend in Morrell and Sargent Gymnasiums.
“We’re all extremely excited,” said Assistant Coach Kristin Hanczor. “Hosting is not only exciting just to be playing in your own gym but it’s also an advantage to be playing in your own gym with your own fans and not having to travel and not having to do hotels and everything. But the drawback of being number one is that you’re the clear target for everyone else.”
This year’s tournament will showcase the evenly matched competition and some standard NESCAC rivalry. Two-time defending champion Williams is seeded second with a conference record of 8-2 after losing 3-1 to Tufts in their season opener and 3-2 in a close match against Bowdoin. Amherst is also a top contender as they are seeded third and lead the league in hitting percentage, kills and digs.
“Something that’s really unique about the NESCAC is we’re so strong from top to bottom that at any given time, any team could beat another team,” said captain Christy Jewett ’16. “You have to be at the top of your game. There is no guarantee that you’re going to beat the seventh or eighth seed just because you’re the first seed.”
Jewett was named NESCAC Player of the Week for the second time this season after breaking Bowdoin’s all-time record for career kills as the team swept all four matches at the UMass Boston Invitational
“I’m obviously very honored and grateful and I think the reason that it happened was that the NESCAC was trying to highlight how well our team was playing and in order to do that they selected me as kind of a representative of giving this honor to my team,” said Jewett. “The NESCAC doesn’t choose to honor people unless their team does well, and I would be nowhere without my teammates and without how hard every single person has been working. There’s no way to look good unless your team is really good.”
After starting the season with a shaky 2-3 record, the team eventually hit their stride, winning every game for the rest of the season other than a close loss in the fifth set to Amherst, finishing the season with a 20-4 record. This is the eighth season in school history that the program has reached the 20-win milestone.
The team will face Bates in the quarterfinals Friday at 5 p.m., the second time they’ll face the Bobcats in a week after beating them 3-1 last Saturday.
“The good thing about playing them again is that we’re familiar with what they do,” said Head Coach Erin Cady. “The disadvantage is they’re familiar with what we do on the court, so we’re trying to figure out a way to correct any mistakes or weaknesses that we had last weekend and then build on that and try to expose any weaknesses that they might have going into this weekend.”
“We’ve definitely been looking at what offensive shots are going to work best against their team and we’ve been encouraging our hitters to work on those in practice,” said Hanczor. “We are also looking at their tendencies so that our defense can be ready for their attacks and who they choose to set and what shots they have.”
The match will feature strong serving from both sides of the net as Bowdoin and Bates rank second and third respectively in the NESCAC in service aces per set. The team has spent the week preparing for Bates’ strong outside hitters, such as junior Chandler McGrath, who has averaged 3.26 kills per set this season, just behind Jewett with 3.95. The Bobcats have also had the tendency to force sets to the right side, leading the Polar Bears to focus on and adjust to the new angle.
“We’re working on our defensive movement and being more disciplined with our movement so that we’re not just wandering around in the backcourt, we’re actually moving and being able to make a play on the ball,” said Cady. “I also think their strength is they’re a very passionate team and they work really hard, so we’re looking to work just as hard if not outwork them.”
Even under the pressures of tournament play, the team looks to use their technical strengths, volleyball intelligence and versatility to continue their trend of high performance this weekend.
“We know that we don’t necessarily hit anything much harder than anyone else, we don’t necessarily do anything very differently than the other teams, but we are a very strong team unit. Every one of us can get the job done, so we don’t have to focus on just one person. We can adjust our game plan based on the weaknesses of the other team,” said Hanczor. “We really believe that the winner of the tournament is going to be the most disciplined, the most calm, confident and poised team, and we’re hoping to be that team.”