The women's volleyball team closed out its 2008 campaign on Friday, suffering a 3-1 loss to Wesleyan.
The seventh-seeded Polar Bears began the game on a high note, holding a five-point lead at 15-10 only to fall to the second-seeded Cardinals in the first set, 25-21.
After reaching 15-14 in the second set, however, the Bears refused to relinquish their lead. Eventually they triumphed with a 25-21 final score that would signal their last set victory of the season. In the third and fourth sets, the Cardinals came back with a vengeance to finish the match at 25-17 and 25-18.
Gillian Page '10 continued her solid play over the last several games with eight kills and 12 digs, while Kristin Hanczor '12 posted a team-high nine kills. Setter Jenna Diggs '10 made such offensive strategy possible with her 29 total assists. Defensively, Anna Noucas '10 notched a team-high of 16 digs in addition to contributing two service aces.
Kelsey Howe '10 joined the ranks of the team leaders for this last match, with an impressive seven kills and seven total blocks. Four of these blocks were against Wesleyan's Lisa Drennan, who was recently named 2008 NESCAC Player of the Year for the second time in three years.
"It was amazing to see Kelsey so strong and aggressive in her blocking," Head Coach Karen Corey said. Corey and her team named Howe the MVP for the game.
Howe is not the only member of the 2008 Polar Bears who should be proud of what she has accomplished this season.
"Despite the earlier ending to our season than we all hoped for, we're all proud of how much we have grown as individual players and as a team," Hanczor said.
At the conclusion of the season, Hanczor, Page, and Diggs have each entered themselves into the Bowdoin record books for single-season performance: Hanczor now ranks fifth in kills with 319 and fourth in blocks with 93; Page ranks third in attacks; and Diggs ranks third in both assists and digs with respective totals of 974 and 441.
Page, Diggs, and Stephanie Drumright '11 also have also placed themselves in the career records books. Page leads in attacks with 2875 while coming in second with kills at 928 and third with digs at 1017.
Diggs achieved a similar triumvirate of standings; she leads in digs with a 1281 total, second in assists with 2375, and takes third in aces with 145. Drumright claims second place for blocks with her 183.
Gina Lonati '12 said that the .500 winning percentage might not fully represent the Bears' strength, and felt that the team had "pushed each other as well as ourselves, and, in the end, learned a lot about playing hard, staying mentally strong, and working together."
The team will be at an advantage next year since it will not graduate any seniors this spring.
"Not many teams get this kind of second chance," Hanczor said. "Not many teams get to come back with the same group and change what we want."
For Diggs, the impending change is clear.
"If we work hard in the off season and motivate ourselves and our teammates to give one more inch, to get that much better," she said, "we will be very successful next fall and will surely avenge the losses we faced this past season."