Bridgewater
State Box Score
Brandeis Box
Score
WALTHAM, MA- The Williams College women's volleyball team
(6-1, 2-0) split a doubleheader Saturday hosted by Brandeis en
route to their first defeat of the season. In the first
match, the Ephs posted a decisive 3-0 victory against Bridgewater
State, 30-23, 30-21, 30-20, but dropped a 3-2 seesaw battle against
Brandeis, 19-30, 29-31, 30-15, 30-28, 9-15.
"Overall for the weekend, I feel that our young players learned
a lot," said head coach Fran Vandermeer. "Sometimes a loss
can help a young team and now we are just looking to have a more
consistent defensive effort."
For the Ephs, the match against Brandeis proved to be the most
difficult to date on the young season. After dropping the
first game, the Ephs found themselves a point away from tying the
score at 1 (29-24), but a late rally gave Brandeis a 2-0
lead. The Ephs would rebound, however, to win game three and
overcame a 27-24 deficit to clinch game four. The Eph
comeback came up short in the deciding game five, as the Judges
scored the first 6 points en route to the 3-2 victory.
"Our defensive effort was inconsistent," said Vandermeer.
"I'm very proud of how hard we fought to come back but we need to
do a better job at sustaining momentum."
In the defeat, the Ephs were led by first year Emily Avis and
sophomores Melissa Pun and Chelsea Kubal. Kubal and Pun
excelled defensively posting 19 and 27 digs respectively.
Avis continued to become more comfortable at setter, posting 35
assists to go along with 11 digs.
"Melissa [Pun] and Chelsea [Kubal] both had a great day
defensively," said Vandermeer. "Our connections between Emily
[Avis] and the hitters are getting better every match."
Junior captain Riki McDermott posted 10 digs while the Ephs
offense got contributions from sophomores Alisha Cahlan (7 kills)
and Whitney Hitchcock (6 kills, 3 service aces), and first years
Nicole Ballon-Landa (11 kills, 5 blocks), Kate Anderson (14 kills),
and Eleanor Levine (7 kills, 2 service aces).
Earlier in the day, the Ephs recorded their sixth victory of the
season, 3-0 over Bridgewater State. Pun (12 kills, 26 digs),
Kubal (23 digs), and Avis (33 assists, 7 digs) provided key efforts
again, and the Ephs got big contributions from the entire
team. Senior captain Liz Hirschhorn posted 5 assists while
sophomore Andrea Scioscia (11 digs) and McDermott (7 digs) had
strong defensive efforts. Junior Molly Hunter (2 kills) along
with Anderson (4 kills), Cahlan (3 kills), Ballon-Landa (4 kills, 3
blocks), and Levine (6 kills) helped fuel the effort on offense.
The Ephs now head home for the first time in almost two weeks
Tuesday, September 15 to face Union at 7:00 PM.
