After a challenging weekend, women's volleyball will enter this weekend's NESCAC conference tournament as the No. 7 seed.
Last weekend, the Polar Bears finished 1-2, with a victory over Hamilton but losses to Middlebury and Williams. The games took place as part of a NESCAC meet hosted by Colby. Bowdoin began the meet with the Friday night face-off against Middlebury. The Polar Bears held their own throughout the match, finishing the three sets with close scores of 25-23, 25-17, and 25-22. Even though these scores culminated in a 3-0 Middlebury win, the Bears had their moments of triumph. Kristin Hanczor '12 led the offense with 11 kills, while Gillian Page '10 came in right behind her with 9 kills. Jenna Diggs '10 supported the offense with a team-high 26 assists while additionally contributing 17 digs.
In the morning match against Williams on Saturday, Bowdoin fared slightly more successfully as it managed to snag the first set at 25-22. However, the Ephs came back with a vengeance to sweep the next and final three sets with increasingly decisive scores of 25-18, 25-15, and 25-13. Page and Hanczor built on their momentum from the previous night by posting a respective 12 and 11 kills off of Diggs' 34 assists. Defensively, Skye Lawrence '10 established the second team-high statistic of the weekend with 18 digs.
But the Bears were able to transfer their frustrations into effective and dominating play against Hamilton in a subsequent afternoon match. Page, Hanczor, and Diggs were once more key figures in leading the team to a 3-0 sweep of the Continentals. Page continued to dominate with 13 kills against Hamilton; Hanczor again notched 11. Diggs persisted with a valuable 27 assists and 9 digs while also contributing 5 aces.
The Hamilton win, however, did little to comfort the Bears.
"Going 1-2 for the weekend was disappointing for the team," Head Coach Karen Corey said. "We have been playing at a high level of volleyball but lack confidence against the 'traditionally' strong programs."
Williams volleyball took the 2007 NESCAC Championship title.
Gina Lonati '12 recognized the significance of statistics and records, but said that it was important to focus on the greater significance of successful team play in the coming matches.
"It's finally time to show how hard we've worked and improved," she said. "We're going to go out this weekend without thinking about other teams' records, ranks, or reputations and we're going to play our game, and end the year with hard work, determination, cohesiveness, and energy during the playoffs."
"We have a very talented group of players, and if we can get our mental game under control, we will rival the best in the region," Corey said.
The Bears have the chance to do so this weekend against No. 2-seeded Wesleyan in the opening round of the 2008 NESCAC Tournament. The match will take place today at Tufts, the host for the tournament, at 5 p.m.