Ephs Sweep Conn College to Improve to 3-1 in NESCAC

Williamstown, MA - Williams College (6-3, 3-1 NESCAC) took on Connecticut College (5-5, 1-3 NESCAC) and won in three sets to kick off a weekend of home play.

The third set was dominated by Williams, as the Ephs came out fired up and stormed out to an early lead, with Conn forced to take a timeout down 9-5. That did little to slow the Ephs' momentum, however, as they continued on their 9-0 run to build a 14-5 lead. Although the Camels won the next two points, that would be the closest the set ever got after that, as the Ephs didn't let up on the pressure on their way to a 25-10 third set victory. Williams put on a hitting clinic in the set, as they earned twelve kills without a single attack error, contributing to an outstanding hitting percentage of .414 for the set. 

Williams' play in the first set was marked by strong serving, with the Ephs racking up five service aces. There was little to separate the two teams early on, although Conn started to pull away midway through the set, forcing a Williams timeout with the Ephs down 13-10. However, back to back kills from junior Marit Hoyem pressured the Camels into a timeout of their own just a few points later. Conn built their largest lead of the set at 21-16, but a strong service run from senior Gracie Guidotti led the Ephs on a six-point run to retake the lead 22-21. The Ephs and Camels traded the next few points, but senior Anna Tosolini ended the set with a powerful kill inside the ten-foot line, claiming the first set 25-23 for Williams. 



The second set was all Williams, as they led the set wire to wire. The Ephs jumped out to an early lead of 10-4, capped off by back to back double blocks from Anna Tosolini and first year Helen Qian. From there, Conn threatened to get back into the set, as they narrowed the lead to 16-13. The Camels would only score one more point in the set, however, as the Ephs went on a 9-1 run to close out the set 25-14. Williams used a strong all-around team effort to control the set, as the Ephs hit .355, compared to .033 for Conn.

Conn leaders were: first year Riley Lord with 7 kills, sophomore Julia Dailey with 12 assists, and sophomore Lauren Carey with 14 digs. Williams leaders were: Marit Hoyem with 10 kills, Gracie Guidotti and junior Lauren Kauppila with 15 assists each, and senior Christina Conforti with 12 digs.

Eph head coach Christi Kelsey reflected, "We had a great focused week at practice with some things that we really wanted to try to clean up a little bit in terms of our execution. I think we started out the first set really well with that, then I think we hit a little slump in the middle and Conn did a nice job of making us work for that first set, and then we made a couple of adjustments and came out really focused in the second set, and so there were some really great things which we continued to build off of as we pulled out sets two and three, which were really great."

Williams will take on Bowdoin College at home in Chandler Gymnasium on Saturday, October 1st, at 2:00 PM EST.