NORTHAMPTON, MA- The Williams College volleyball team
(16-12) lost its second match to Amherst in three days, 1-3 (25-13,
16-25, 18-25, 21-25), Friday night in the opening match of the Hall
of Fame Tournament. The fourth seeded Ephs started strong
with a decisive first set victory but could not carry over the
momentum, as the fifth seeded Lord Jeffs failed to drop a set for
the rest of the match.
"We set the tone early, but then let a very good Amherst team
back into the match," said head coach Fran Vandermeer. "We
are still working on improving on the mental toughness side of
volleyball."
The Ephs looked poised to rebound from Tuesday's disappointing
loss as they reeled off an 11-0 run early in the first set.
After that, however, Amherst was able to pull ahead in every other
set. In the match's final set, the Ephs held a 19-17 lead
before allowing Amherst to close out on an 8-2 run.
Despite the loss, the Ephs received good numbers from senior
Riki McDermott (19 digs), junior Whitney Hitchcock (7 kills, 4
blocks), sophomore Kate Anderson (7 kills, 4 blocks), and first
year Aly McKinnon (15 digs, 3 aces).
The Ephs continue tournament action tomorrow against Smith at 10
AM, and then against either Bowdoin or Brandeis at 2 PM.
