The Bowdoin Women's Volleyball Team closed its 2007 season with a 3-1 loss to Amherst in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament.
Amherst played host to the first round of the NESCAC Tournament, welcoming Bowdoin and six other competing schools to campus. The No. 1 ranked Jeffs hoped to overcome Bowdoin, Williams, Middlebury, Tufts, Trinity, Connecticut, and Wesleyan in order to defend their 2006 NESCAC title and win the fourth conference championship in their program history.
The Friday match between Amherst and Bowdoin was both teams' opening match of the tournament. Spurred both by this motivation and by their home court advantage, the Jeffs solidified their lead early in the game by taking the first two sets. Each set concluded with definitive, if close, scores of 30-22. The Polar Bears came back in the third set of the match to defeat the Jeffs at 30-25, but in the fourth and final set. Amherst emerged victorious at 30-22.
Key Polar Bear contributors included the continuously effective Gillian Page '10 with 12 kills and five blocks, as well as Skye Lawrence '10 with 11 kills and 15 digs. Fellow sophomore Jenna Diggs added 29 assists and 10 digs. Both Grace Lazarus '11 and co-captain Margo Linton '08 posted respective team highs of 24 digs and four service aces, while Stephanie Drumright '11 contributed seven blocks and was named to the second All-NESCAC team.
Graduating co-captains Linton and Amanda Leahy were invited to compete in the New England Volleyball Coaches Senior Classic. Linton closed her Bowdoin volleyball career with a school record of 3,253 assists and 193 service aces.
The Jeffs went on to defeat Connecticut College on Saturday, but fell to Williams in the final match of the tournament on Sunday. They will participate in the first round of the NCAA this weekend at MIT.
The team closed its season with a total record of 17-15. With the 20-11 2006 season, the Bears have earned back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1988. They finished the season with a 3-7 NESCAC record.
"Our record may not seem that impressive," said coach Karen Corey. "But we have a great young team, and we are playing excellent volleyball against the toughest teams in New England."
With only two seniors, no juniors, five sophomores, and six first years, the team is indeed quite young.
"I am excited for what the next year will bring," said Corey.