Clinton, NY.-- All year head coach Christi Kelsey has been imploring her team to discover "Williams Volleyball," the style of confident yet unassuming play that has garnered them so much success in recent years. It has taken the team over two months, and two and a half sets of play, to discover this level of intensity, and they found it in a somewhat unlikely place, upstate New York, in a nearly empty gym, against archrivals Amherst.
In what is sure to go down as an instant classic in even this storied series, the Jeffs were able to squeak out a 3-2 victory (25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 16-25, 18-16) against a determined and fired up Eph squad that refused to concede defeat to their opponents despite being down by 2 sets. With grit, determination, and amazing poise the Ephs ferociously fought back against a team that they more than consider their equal, falling just short in their audacious comeback bid.
In the first set the Jeffs jumped out to an early lead, buoyed by the prospect of clinching the number one seed in the upcoming NESCAC tournament with a win. The Ephs attempted to match their opponents, although despite a dug-in serve receive and scrappy defense, their offense was unable to step up, committing an uncharacteristically high number of errors en route to a hitting plus/minus of only +3 (14 kills versus 11 errors). The Jeffs were able to take the set 25-22.
Set number two looked like more of the same, as despite the attempts of the Eph defense and serve receive to keep the team in the match, the offense once again floundered. Despite having a better plus/minus of +5, the team would only muster nine kills in the 25-17 loss.
Despite opening up slow in the third set, the Ephs steadily began to find their voice. Junior Libero Aly McKinnon, already making strong contributions on defense and serve receive with a team leading 20 digs, would close a 5 point Amherst lead with tough serving to tie the score at 18-18. The Williams offense then began to come alive, ably orchestrated by senior setter and co-captain Emily Avis and her 48 assists. With the score again tied at 20-20 the team would turn to senior co-captain and emotional leader Kate Anderson, who served the team home to the 25-21 victory.
Set four was all Williams, as their offense came alive to the tune of 14 kills, and a plus/minus of +9. Anderson would lead all hitters with an overall 25 kills in the match, ably seconded by classmate and co-captain Eleanor Levine, who had 13 kills in 39 attempts for an attack average of .307. With their offense successfully igniting the afterburners of the comeback, Avis would bust the close set wide open with a huge serving run to make it 17-7. The Ephs would not take their foot off the gas, closing out the 25-16 smack down to force a deciding fifth set.
In set number five the teams battled back and forth in the opening goings, before the Ephs were able to open up a 7-5 lead behind tough serving and blocking. Whereas the Ephs had struggled in both these categories during their previous tournament at Juniata College, they excelled in both against the Jeffs, notching 6 total blocks and 7 aces in the match. Avis would lead the team with 3 aces, closely followed by first year Emily Baratta, who chipped in with an additional two. Amherst would refuse to roll over, however, battling back to regain the lead at 9-8, and in the next flurry of points would push it to 12-10. Their backs against the wall with Amherst leading 14-12 Williams would dig deep, roaring back to tie it up at 14-14. The teams would battle through two more ties at 15-15 and 16-16, with the Ephs leaning heavily on the shoulders of their strong senior class, most notably Anderson, in an attempt to close out the victory.
Fearlessly swinging away, Anderson would slam home 7 kills in the short set, trying to nearly single-handedly will her teammates forward. With the game on the line and Amherst leading 17-16 Anderson would fire a monstrous hit out of the back row, laying it all out on the court in a bid to tie the score once more, only to see the ball sail narrowly out of bounds. With the victory Amherst wraps up both the number one seed in the NESCAC tournament, which they will host next weekend, and the 2010 Little Three Championship.
While the loss certainly is disappointing for the Ephs, they walk away from the match with their heads held high, proud to have gone down with all guns blazing and pride intact. The team played fearless up until the very end, and the future looks bright as the Ephs look to wrap up their regular season tomorrow morning against Middlebury College. The result of this match will determine the seeding that the Ephs will have in the upcoming NESCAC tournament, in which they are guaranteed at least the #6 seed.
