Second-Seeded Wesleyan Downs Bowdoin 3-1 in Volleyball Quarterfinals.
Courtesy Tufts Sports Information
MEDFORD, Mass. - The second-seeded Wesleyan University Cardinals moved onto the semifinal round of the 2008 NESCAC Volleyball Championship with a 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 25-18) victory over the seventh-seeded Bowdoin College Polar Bears on Friday evening at Chase Gymnasium on the campus of Tufts University.
Bowdoin held control in the first set, building a lead as big as five points at 15-10. The Cardinals then used a 9-3 run to gain the advantage back at 19-18. After ties at 19 and 20, Wesleyan took control and finished off the first set with a 5-1 run to take the 25-21 first set win.
In the second set, Wesleyan held the lead at 9-7, and did not relinquish it for the next 13 points. At 15-14, the Polar Bears earned the lead and from that point forward they never fell behind again. The Cardinals climbed to within just one point at 22-21, but Bowdoin finished strong with three straight points to tie the match up at one set apiece.
The third set was dominated by the Cardinals as Bowdoin only held the lead once and that was at 1-0. Wesleyan used a strong run in the middle of the set as they saw their lead grow to as many as nine points at 19-10. The Polar Bears were able to pull within five points on a couple of occasions, but they were not able to claw any closer. Wesleyan took the third set, 25-17, and moved ahead two sets to one.
More of the same followed in the fourth set as the Cardinals never allowed Bowdoin to gain a lead, only allowing ties at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3. Wesleyan tied their biggest lead of the match at nine points at 20-11. The closest the Polar Bears got was 22-17 and from there the Cardinals tallied three of the final four points, and took the fourth set and the match, 25-18.
Senior Lisa Drennan (Ann Arbor, Mich.) was a catalyst for the Cardinals with a match-high 15 kills and she also added 18 digs. Sophomore Ruby Hernandez (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led Wesleyan in digs with 19 and junior Ellie Healy (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) chipped in with 34 assists. First-year Casey Reed (Manhattan Beach, Calif) added four service aces for the Cardinals.
Bowdoin was led by junior Gillian Page (Mercer Island, Wash.) with eight kills and 12 digs. First-year Kristin Hanczor (Redding, Conn.) had a team-high nine kills, while sophomore Anna Noucas (Portsmouth, N.H.) tallied a high of 16 digs to go along with two service aces. Junior Jenna Diggs (La Jolla, Calif.) was the assists leader with 29 for the match.
With the victory, Wesleyan improves to 21-6 for the season and they advance on to play Amherst in the semifinals at 3:30 pm Saturday afternoon at Tufts University’s Cousens Gymnasium Bowdoin ends the season with a record of 17-17.
