The women’s volleyball team has opened its regular season with a five-game win streak, finishing the Endicott Invitational undefeated and picking up a home win against the University of New England on Tuesday night.
So far only one opponent, New York University, has been able to drag the Polar Bears to a fifth set. Endicott College took just the first set against Bowdoin before losing the next three by a substantial margin. The other three games were won in straight sets, a goal for the team this season.
Captains Hailey Wahl ’16 and Christy Jewett ’16 attributed part of the team’s early success to their ability to play within a new formation that features at least four hitters and relocates the setter to the back row without substituting a libero [a defensive player not required to rotate with the rest of the team]. Both captains agreed that an encouraging effect of the new system has been that players are able to serve in multiple roles on the court.
“Players can’t be as specialized,” Wahl said. “Our middles switch off for our setters, so players that might not usually go all the way around [the rotation] now go all the way around.”
Jewett maintains that the system is a strong fit for the players and believes that the new rotation works in part because the team’s hitters are also good at digging. Jewett and NESCAC Player of the Week Katie Doherty ’17 are both ranked in the top five in the NESCAC in digs as outside hitters.
Jewett also noted that excluding the libero, who has a handsetting restriction within ten feet that forces hitters to stay on the ground, has made their offense more unpredictable.
“Once we get past the confusion of not having a designated person to receive the ball, the ability to handset has been worthwhile,” Jewett said.
While the Polar Bears worry that teams will catch on to the scheme change and direct attacks at their setter, who now plays back right instead of front right, Jewett asserted that they are prepared for that tactic.
“We don’t actually lose a hitter [if one is forced to set the second ball] because we have an additional hitter to begin with,” she said.
Wahl explained that keeping the setter in the back allows an additional hitter to threaten with a kill, creating hesitation and confusion among the opposing ranks. This is how the team benefits from the new formation’s unpredictability. Anything that forces the defense to slide its blockers a second too slowly tremendously benefits the offense.
The team’s performance has been aided by the return of middle backer Erika Sklaver ’17, who has recovered this year from a torn ACL. She is currently third in the NESCAC in blocks per set. Jewett also singled out first years Clare McInerney and Michelle Albright for their steady contributions.
For a team that graduated what Wahl called, “the most successful class in Bowdoin volleyball history”, and does not have one senior on the roster, strong play from the first years has been integral to the Polar Bears’ early success.
Bowdoin will travel to Atlanta, Ga over the weekend to play Emory University, a top-five Division III school.