Saratoga Springs, NY - In their season opener, Williams College (1-0) traveled to Skidmore College (2-2) and came away with a 3-0 victory.
The third set started off with the Ephs and T-Breds evenly matched, as the score was 5-5 after ten points. However, Williams used a strong service run from sophomore
Catherine Vermeulen, with three service aces in four points, to build a quick 11-5 lead. Although a service error ended their run, the Ephs continued rolling on to a 14-6 advantage. From there though, Skidmore battled back to pull within three points, although Williams continued to keep them at an arms distance. With a strong kill from senior
Marit Hoyem pushing the lead to 21-16, Skidmore called a timeout to gather themselves, which seemed to work as the T-Breds won the next five points to tie the game at 21-21.The two teams traded points back and forth, and a Skidmore service error set up the first match point for the Ephs at 24-23. However, a kill from sophomore Jazlin Chen tied the set back up at 24-24. Williams continued to set up match points, but Skidmore continued to save them with clutch hits, until senior
Celia Adams put down consecutive kills to win the third set 29-27, securing the match and opening win for the Ephs.
Williams started off their season well with a well-struck hit from sophomore
Helen Qian that nobody from Skidmore was able to handle. Building off this momentum, the Ephs jumped out to an early 5-2 lead. Although the T-Breds recovered from their early stumbles and tied the score at several points, they were unable to take the lead due to three consecutive service errors holding them back. Back to back kills from
Marit Hoyem, followed by a smart dump from senior setter
Lauren Kauppila and an error helped Williams build their largest lead to that point of 17-13, forcing Skidmore to call their first timeout. However, they could do little to slow the Ephs down, as Williams powered on to a 25-19 first set victory, with the deciding point coming from Skidmore's sixth service error of the set.
The T-Breds rebounded well from their first set loss, however, and built up an early 7-4 lead. This lead evaporated quickly though, as the Ephs used a 10-3 run to retake the lead, pressuring Skidmore into another timeout. Once again, Williams were not fazed by the calling of a timeout, and continued to add to their lead with a powerful kill from first year
Keely Campuzano, followed by a service ace from sophomore
Sidra Wohlwend. With the score at 19-11, and the set quickly slipping out of reach, the T-Breds took yet another timeout. Outstanding serving from sophomore
Kami Israelski set up set point for the Ephs at 24-12, and although Skidmore saved one point, a strong kill from
Marit Hoyem clinched the second set for Williams, 25-13.
Skidmore leaders were: senior Jo Blanco and sophomore Rudi Reyes with 4 kills each, senior Noa Berger with 12 assists, and junior Ella Kretten with 12 digs. Williams leaders were:
Helen Qian and
Celia Adams with 10 kills each,
Lauren Kauppila with 28 assists, and
Kami Israelski with 11 digs.
Eph head coach
Christi Kelsey reflected on the successful start to the season, "Overall, I thought this was a really good opening match for us. Skidmore was an athletic team, and certainly made us work, especially in the third set. I think it was a really good opportunity for us to see some of the things we focused on in preseason show up in terms of our skills and our team system work, and it also gave us some really good insights about how we continue to grow and get better! We are really proud of our team for pulling out the third set as I think that is also a great learning moment for us as well about where we could be strong mentally and how we can be confident in close sets and matches going forward. It's awesome to note that this is the first college win for our first year players as well as assistant coach
Adam Gulick, so that is cool too! Lastly I would just like to say that this preseason start is a big testament to all 17 of our players. They have been working so hard and continuing to invest in each other every day, so I just want to say how proud I am of all they have brought to our team so far!"
Williams is back in action at Brandeis University at 2:00 PM EST on Saturday, September 9th when they take on Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Brandeis in a doubleheader.
