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AMHERST, MA- The Williams College women's volleyball
team (27-7) came out on the winning end of a 3-2 (30-27, 27-30,
30-27, 25-30, 15-9) marathon match and claimed the 2007 NESCAC
Championship title Sunday afternoon in Amherst. In a rematch
of last year's final, it was the Ephs who found themselves
holding the NESCAC Championship trophy after a 5-0 run to start the
fifth game proved too much for Amherst to overcome.
“This is one of the hardest working teams I've ever
had,” said head coach Fran Vandermeer. “They were
so focused on winning the NESCAC Championship. You start with the
leadership. Liz [Hirschhorn] and Riki [McDermott's]
leadership has been consistent, energetic, positive, and has pushed
our team to be better all season long.”
Like last year's final, the Ephs were able to start strong
and hold off a late Amherst charge to take the first game before
eventually dropping the second. Unlike last year, however,
the Ephs were then able to post a close and crucial victory in game
three. While they were unable to rally all the way back from
a deficit and take game four, the Ephs came out strong in the
decisive game five and never looked back.
“I've never had a team full of players who made
significant contributions all season long,” said Vandermeer.
“And this team truly has eleven players who have
contributed and done their job.”
For the second straight match, the Eph block was superb and
instrumental in quieting a potent Lord Jeff offense. First
year Nicole Ballon-Landa had an exceptional match, posting a season
high 7 blocks (1 solo), to go along with a team-high 23 kills and 5
digs. Sophomore Alicia Cahlan added 4 blocks and smashed 18
kills.
Pacing the offense, first year Emily Avis tallied a NESCAC
Championship match record 71 assists, to go along with 15 digs and
3 blocks. Sophomore Melissa Pun smashed 14 kills and also
posted 21 digs and 3 blocks.
“I think our team showed a lot of heart,” said
Vandermeer. “We bounced back from a tough fourth game
and in the fifth game we started with confidence and came out on
top. This NESCAC championship featured two teams playing defense at
an extremely high level.”
For the defense, the Ephs were led by sophomore Chelsea Kubal, who
had a season high 36 digs, and junior captain Riki McDermott, who
had 12 digs.
First year Kate Anderson smashed an impressive 11 kills coming off
the bench. Anderson helped fill in for injured sophomore
Whitney Hitchcock, who despite a hand injury, posted 4 kills, 2
blocks, and 2 timely service aces. Rounding out the numbers
for the NESCAC champion Ephs were first year Eleanor Levine (7
kills, 10 digs) and sophomore Andrea Scioscia (5 digs).
“I think that this young team had a very tough schedule
early and we took our lumps early and had some tough losses, but
our team never got down. We learned from our losses and got
better,” said Vandermeer. “And when it really
counted, in this match, everybody put their best efforts out
there.”
After earning an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, the Ephs
now wait to see who they will face in the first round of the
regional, which will most likely be hosted by MIT later in the
week.
