Williams Takes Down Bowdoin in Three Set Victory

Williamstown, MA - Williams College (7-3, 4-1 NESCAC) faced Bowdoin College (5-6, 2-3 NESCAC) to round out a weekend of NESCAC play, and the Ephs came away with a three set victory over the Polar Bears.

The third set was back and forth in the early going; however, the Ephs were able to separate midway through the set, going on an 8-2 run to build up a 20-12 lead, where the Bears took a timeout in an attempt to shut down the Ephs' momentum. It worked for a while, as Bowdoin won five of the next seven points to narrow the deficit to five points. The Ephs surged at the end, however, and junior Celia Adams recorded her sixth kill of the set on match point to win the set 25-18 for Williams.

Williams got off to a fast start in the first set, racing out to early leads of 7-1 and 11-3. Junior Marit Hoyem shined in the early going with three kills and three blocks in just the first ten points. Williams continued their momentum to build up a double-digit lead, with back to back service aces from junior Lauren Kauppila making it 18-7 for the Ephs. Bowdoin surged towards the end of the set to narrow the lead somewhat, but a smart tip kill from senior Anna Tosolini finished off the first set 25-16 for Williams.


To start off the second set, Bowdoin used the momentum they built at the end of the previous set to jump out to an early 9-4 lead, forcing the Ephs to take a timeout to try to slow the Bears down. Although Williams brought the game to within two points, Bowdoin surged again to take a 16-10 lead, pressuring the Ephs into taking another timeout. Williams used the timeout well, as they came out on a roll, winning six of the next seven timeouts, making the Bears call a timeout of their own with their lead having shrunk to 17-16. The Ephs continued on a roll, however, as the Bears called another timeout just five points later, having fallen behind 20-18. With the game later deadlocked at 21-21, Williams won the next four points, highlighted by three kills from Anna Tosolini, to claim the set 25-21. 

Bowdoin leaders were: senior Sarah Evans with 9 kills, senior Ella Haugen with 20 assists, and sophomore Cami Lindsey with 9 digs. Williams leaders were: Marit Hoyem with 12 kills, junior Lauren Kauppila with 17 assists, and senior Christina Conforti with 13 digs.

Eph head coach Christi Kelsey remarked after the win, "We had a really good film session this morning and walkthrough, and I think we learned a lot last night even though it was a 3-0 win against Conn, we still had some things that we wanted to do better. It was great energy when we did our serve and pass today and very focused from this group. They came out from the start that way and this was our best match to date of just executing on the little things for us, and I'm really proud of how they did that point to point and consistently over three sets, which was nice. Bowdoin is a great team, they're gonna be in the mix as we go through this year for NESCAC, but overall I'm really proud of our team, especially on senior weekend, nice to get a win for our six seniors."

The Ephs will be back in action against Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut on Friday, October 7th, at 7:00 PM EST.