Last night, the volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking loss against California Lutheran University in the NCAA D-III Quarterfinals. However, this season has been full of impressive accomplishments, as the team won the Regional Championship for the first time in program history at MIT on Sunday. The team faced UMass-Boston, Babson and MIT in the first three rounds of the tournament and came out of each match victorious, securing the Polar Bears their first ever spot in the Elite Eight.
“It was a huge accomplishment for our program,” said Head Coach Erin Cady. “Our senior leadership has helped direct us to get that regional championship and I’m extremely proud of our program and what our student-athletes have been able to accomplish.”
After a decisive victory against UMass-Boston, who the team also swept during the regular season, the Polar Bears prevailed in a closely fought match against Babson College, who served the team one of its four losses this season. In the regional championship, the team fell to MIT in the first set, yet came back to win the next three by at least seven points in each.
“The first set against MIT was a very good wake up call,” said captain Christy Jewett ‘16. “MIT’s pretty flashy, they have a really big outside hitter and she’s very good so what we focused on for the rest of the game was to make sure that we did not let the people who didn’t deserve points get points. By neutralizing everyone else on the court, number 10 [Megan Gebhard] started to make errors first of all, but also her getting kills didn’t fire their team up as much because they were only getting kills from her, and that was what allowed us to prevail since no team can play with just one really good player.”
In last night’s quarterfinal matchup, the team started strong, winning the first set 25-20. However, Cal Lutheran gained momentum at the end of the set and carried it through to win the next two. The fourth set was neck and neck, until the Regals pulled away towards the end. While the Polar Bears were able to fight back to 23-24, Cal Lutheran claimed the final set 25-23 and earned their spot in the semifinals.
Despite losing this hard-fought battle, with NESCAC and Regional Championship titles, this year’s team has put forward one of the strongest seasons in the history of the program. The team sees the season, and especially the Sweet Sixteen win against MIT, as the culmination of hard work and dedication in every aspect of the program.
“Having the confidence that we could win and knowing that we had a good team behind us to be able to play well enough to win, I think that was the difference this year in actually achieving a win,” said Jewett.
“It would be remiss not to note how great an influence Coach Cady has been to this program and the structure she’s brought to us and the way she doesn’t take herself too seriously. We feel like she’s our friend just as much as she’s the most influential figure that many of us have experienced yet at Bowdoin,” said captain Hailey Wahl ’16. “The stars have aligned with a group of devoted, skilled and talented girls along with a great coaching staff and a perfect set of goals that we’re all on the same page about.”
The Regional Championship title was accompanied by a number of individual accolades as three Polar Bears were named to the All-Northeast team and Jewett became the second player in Bowdoin history to be an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American, following Assistant Coach Kristin Hanczor ’11, who was named to the All-American Second Team in 2011.
Katie Doherty ’17 was selected as an AVCA All-American Honorable Mention, as well as a member of the NCAA All-Northeast team. With 1,445 career digs, she ranks third all-time at Bowdoin with more than a season to add to her total.
Quincy Leech ‘17 joins Doherty as an All-American Honorable Mention and on the All-Northeast team for a second year. With 986 assists this season, Leech ranks fifth all-time at Bowdoin for assists in a single season.
Jewett was also named the 2015 New England Women’s Volleyball Association (NEWVA) Player of the Year and a NEWVA All-New England First Team honoree for the second time, as she continues to secure her place in the Bowdoin record books with 1,390 career kills.
“The team victories mean a lot more to me than individual awards because I’ve realized that there’s no way to get this individual recognition without having a really stellar team around you,” said Jewett. “It was very nice to be recognized but I’m more looking forward to getting to having an Elite Eight banner hanging in our gym to kind of represent how amazing this team’s been.”
Between the NESCAC and NCAA playoffs, the team had two consecutive weekends in which they played three matches and flew to Grand Rapids, Michigan on Tuesday in preparation for last night’s game.
“One of the biggest challenges is remaining a student athlete throughout all this,” said Jewett. “Obviously Bowdoin wants us to have a great experience and enjoy being in such a momentous tournament, but also all of us know that we’ve got a lot of work and we’re no different than any of the other students here at Bowdoin.”