Wednesday's success against Endicott was the latest in a home-court hot streak for women's volleyball. Since October 2, the team has racked up seven consecutive victories on Bowdoin ground, with only one away loss at Tufts.
The Polar Bears' roll began with their undefeated performance at the Midcoast Classic on October 2 and 3, where after a close 3-2 victory over Emerson they crushed Worcester St, Mt. Holyoke and Rivier 3-0 each. The Bears then returned from the Tufts loss to prove themselves in matches against Colby and Bates with respective scores of 3-0 and 3-1.
Their face off against Endicott continued the trend. After snatching 25-11 and 25-22 victories over the Gulls in the first two sets, the Bears faltered in a tight 25-27 third set. However, they took immediate revenge in the fourth with a 25-16 tally, sealing off an overall 3-1 triumph.
"After winning the first two games, we let up a little bit," Kristin Hanczor '12 said. "When Endicott started getting kills and making some good plays, we weren't ready, but we bounced back in the fourth with much more desire to finish off the game strong."
Co-captain Gillian Page '10 was a key factor in the return, posting 12 kills, five aces, and 19 digs in the game. Stephanie Drumright '11 and Melissa Haskell '13 also contributed 11 and nine kills respectively, while Haskell added three aces to Bowdoin's overall 16. Their combined offense stemmed from the 32 assists by co-captain Jenna Diggs '10.
Gina Lonati '11 said, "the team has been looking really strong of late, with great performances from many parts of the court."
The Polar Bears displayed similar stamina in their earlier victories. Haskell and Page led over the course of the Midcoast Classic with 27 and 24 total kills, respectively, while Drumright and Hanczor each posted 10. Stephanie Bond '13 had 27 assists against Mt. Holyoke; Diggs, setting against Rivier, contributed 30. Jillian Berkman '11 ranked highest for defensive statistics in one match with 13 digs from Rivier, while Haskell came in a close second with 12 against Worcester St and seven against Mt. Holyoke.
Drumright was again effective in the October 9 3-0 sweep of Colby and the October 10 3-1 defeat of Bates. Against both she notched 11 kills; against Colby, she made one error throughout the entire game. Haskell added eight kills versus Colby, joining Hanczor and Page in delivering nine kills apiece to Bates. Diggs supported the offense with 27 assists in the Colby match and 37 facing Bates, while in the latter, Berkman was again ready on the defense with 19 digs.
A quick glance at the 0-3 match against Tufts would suggest an accompanying lack of individual accomplishments. However, the lower statistics speak only to the shorter length of the game; in only three sets, Page and Hanczor still managed six kills each and Haskell five off of Diggs' 16 assists. Page also posted 13 digs to Haskell's 12.
Instead, Lonati points to a lesser degree of overall team togetherness as a potential fault for the loss.
"What seems to be happening is that not all aspects will be clicking at the same time," she said. "We will have some amazing kills, but poor serve reception in one game, and then awesome digs and sets in one, but many service or hitting errors in another."
Hanczor similarly attests to the team's need to focus, especially in the weekend's upcoming games against Hamilton, Williams and Middlebury as well as Tuesday's faceoff with Maine Maritime.
"We have a lot of work to do to continue to prove that we deserve to be in the top group of the conference, and this weekend is a great opportunity for us to do so," she said.
The Polar Bears have records of 3-2 conference and 14-6 total. They are ranked fifth in NESCAC standings.