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MEFORD, MA- The Williams College volleyball team (26-12)
could not have picked a better time to post a ten-match winning
streak. The Ephs followed up their conference tournament
championship with a victory in the opening round of the NCAA
Division 3 championship tournament against Keene State 3-0 (26-24,
25-11, 25-16) on Thursday afternoon.
"This was a good start to the NCAA tournament," said head coach
Fran Vandermeer. "We settled down after the first set and
controlled our adrenaline very well. Our ball control was
outstanding, we pass served very well and we were able to finish
plays throughout the match."
Both teams came out strong, pretty much trading off points in
the opening set. Late in that first set, the Ephs found
themselves on the wrong end of a 24-23 score. Down to their
final point, the Ephs rallied to a 3-0 run and an opening set
victory.
From that point on, Williams had all the momentum. In the
second set, the Ephs jumped out to leads of 7-2 and 18-7, forcing
the Owls to use both of their timeouts before eventually taking the
set. In the decisive third set, Williams jumped out to 13-4
lead and never looked back, taking the match in convincing
fashion.
On offense, the Ephs continued to get impressive performances from
their sophomores. Emily Avis tallied 36 assists, while Kate
Anderson (14 kills) and Nicole Ballon-Landa (16 kills) took full
advantage in three set victory.
On defense, the Ephs were led by junior Melissa Pun (12 digs) and
senior Riki McDermott (7 digs). At the net, juniors Whitney
Hicthcock (1 block) and Chelsea Kubal (2 blocks, 5 kills), and
sophomore Eleanor Levine (3 blocks, 6 kills in 7 attempts, no
errors) also helped lead the Ephs to victory.
With the win, the Ephs advance to the second round of the NCAA
tournament against top-seeded Springfield, which defeated Maine
Maritime, 3-0, Thursday.
