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AMHERST, MA- The Williams College women's volleyball
team (17-6, 5-1) found themselves on the losing end of a seesaw
match against archrival Amherst College Tuesday night, 3-2 (30-27,
30-32, 27-30, 31-29, 15-6). For Williams, their first
conference loss of the season was eerily similar to last
year's regular season match against Amherst, where the Ephs
were victorious in five games.
After dropping the first game, the Ephs were put through a roller
coaster of emotions in the second. After jumping out to a
19-10 lead, the Ephs saw the Lord Jeffs storm back to take a 28-23
lead, only to shock the home crowd and pull off the 32-30 comeback
win. The Ephs would build on that momentum and take the third
game, but were unable to maintain it and dropped the final two
games en route to the defeat.
Despite the loss, the Ephs were led by first years Nicole
Ballon-Landa and Emily Avis. Ballon-Landa smashed a team high
22 kills, while Avis posted 18 digs and 3 service aces to go along
with 50 assists at setter. Sophomores Melissa Pun (20 kills,
21 digs), Chelsea Kubal (9 kills, 22 digs), and Andrea Scioscia (21
digs, 2 service aces) rounded out the numbers for the Ephs.
The loss marks the first regular season conference defeat for the
Ephs since 2005. Williams now drops to 5-1 in NESCAC play while
Amherst claims the top spot in the league with a record of 6-1.
Amherst's lone conference loss in 2007 was to
Connecticut College.
The Ephs now need Amherst to drop at least one more conference
match for a chance to host the NESCAC tournament for the second
consecutive year. Williams next sees action in this
weekend's Hall of Fame Tournament at Smith, before closing
out the regular season with conference matches against Middlebury,
Wesleyan, Connecticut College, and Trinity.
