NCAA Run Ends at Sweet 16

We really had to play well and win the NESCAC to even make it into the NCAA's this year.  The new NPI made that process a little more predictable, so we knew what we had to accomplish to get here...and we did it.  When the selection show (which, by the way had a picture of US on it!) put out the bracket, we were headed to Juniata as the 6th seed in that pod.  When we arrived at our hotel on Wednesday, the Smith Coach (from Huntingdon, PA, and Caitlin's sister's coach) had left us 3 dozen delicious cupcakes and even made sure they had blue and white icing for MIDD!!  It was SO NICE of him!!

We faced a tough Salisbury team in the first round.  They'd drawn the 3rd seed based on their NPI, and we knew it would be a tough match.  We came out and played tough right from the beginning and won the first set with a confident 25-24 score.  They bounced right back and took set 2 15-25 and the match was on.  We then just kept the pressure on and behind strong hitting and serving, took the final two sets 25-17 and 25-14. Our OH's had a great match overall, netting 10 and 9 kills with a .207 and a .172 hitting %.  Gabbie was running the offense and attacking at opportune times with 3 kills on 5 attempts, and Molly again led all hitters with 17 kills. We were on a roll and things were really clicking.  We hit .227 and held a 10-4 advantage with service aces, propelling us into the next round against Gettysburg.

We had played Gettysburg the previous year, losing in 5 sets on our opening weekend.  I think we were all pretty excited to get to play them again, and what better place than the NCAA's round of 32.  This time we got off to a good start taking the first two sets, but it was a very tight game all the way.  We were able to pull ahead in both sets and close them out 25-20, and 25-23 before losing another close set in the 3rd 21-25.  In the 4th set, we sort of got on a roll and just dominated the set 25-13.  We once again hit well with a .233 hitting % and Molly again led all players with 23 kills (and only 1 error!)!  Our middles were solid (Ava had 6 kills and 7 blocks vs Gettysburg) in both matches, as they have been all year, and our OH's started really stepping up, which was great to see. With Gabbie O'Toole leading our offense and AB and our Defense serving tough and keeping balls in play, we were just playing our best volleyball at the right time, putting us in a position to challenge the two-time defending National Champions for the Regional Championship and a spot in the Elite 8!

We had a nice dinner with the parents after one of these games, and since there was no Dunkin in the town for me to treat the team to after our WIN, Gabbie texted me from across the restaurant asking if we could go to Dairy Queen instead of Dunks to celebrate our win...and of course, that's exactly what we did!  There was a collective cheer when that table got my affirmative response by text!

Another fun thing that we did was eat in the dining hall at Juniata after our matches for lunch so we could watch the second game to scout both days.  It was so convenient and nice and because of the times we were going, it wasn't even that busy.  The other teams were also doing some of that as well.

Facing off against the defending National Champion was a challenge we were eager to have!  When we first saw that we were in that pod, I knew I wanted the opportunity to play them, preferably in the Sweet 16 round and not before, of course!  They went on to beat us in 3 straight sets and then went on to win their 3rd consecutive National Championship, so it was really fun that we knew what facing them was like firsthand.  

They were tough, needless to say.  They had a very fast offense and hit basically a zero-tempo ball in the middle and we just couldn't catch up to it.  Additionally, because of that, we often only had one blocker up on the pins, which put an extra strain on our defense, which was up for the challenge, but we just couldn't hang in there with them.  We forced an unusual time out to be called by them in the 1st set, which was a minor victory, but after scoring 19 points in that first set, we only mustered 16 and then 12 in the final set.  

I'm incredibly proud of this team and all that we accomplished this season.  We had some great moments (winning 10 matches in a row, winning a NESCAC Championship and making the Sweet 16 in the NCAA's), and some struggles (losing to St. Mikes for the first time in 20 years and then dropping two matches to our final two NESCAC teams who were already out of the Conference Tournament at 1-7.)  But what resilience and grit.  We lost 5 of our last 6 regular season matches and then went down 0-2 in our NESCAC Quarterfinal match against Bowdoin at home before bouncing back to tie for our best overall season in Program History by advancing to the Sweet 16 for only the 2nd time ever!!  We had great leadership from our seniors, and we had a very balanced TEAM with great cohesion and culture, allowing us to persevere and accomplish those goals.

We will have a separate post for all of the post season honors to come, but what a TEAM success story this year!!  SO FUN!!  Well done, MCVB!! 

NESCAC Champs 2024!!

 

What a weekend!!  We knew it was a win or go home for good scenario thanks to our regular season finish, but this team would NOT be denied!!  We swept a tough Wesleyan team for the first time this season and had to come back from quite a deficit in set 2 to do so, but that started a roll that kept going all weekend.  

Caitlin gave us some inspiration before heading to Maine for the weekend.  At our final practice before leaving for the weekend, Caitlin gave the team some motivation and visualization!  She looked up at the Banner already hanging in the gym with our other 5 years of NESCAC Championships and asked the team to look with her...then she said I want you to visualize a 2024 up there!  (Or something like that--it was awesome and obviously set the tone for our mission for the weekend!)

The Colby match was one for the ages.  Colby had a huge crowd and was a fantastic atmosphere for a championship.  The hockey team seemed to be in the front row at center court and the house was rocking, and even though most people weren't cheering for us, it was a wonderful atmosphere to play in!!

We had watched Colby just crush Williams in the opening set the night before, and unfortunately, they seemed to do somewhat the same thing to us, taking the first set 14-25.  We turned the tables in the 2nd and took an 18-7 lead and we cruised into a tie match taking set 2 by a score of 25-16.  The 3rd set was a battle back and forth and we finished strongly to take the final three points and secure a 25-22 win in set 3.  They rebounded and pushed a tight score in the 4th out with a 7-1 spurt in the middle of the set that we couldn't respond to and they forced a 5th set with a 16-25 win in set 4, setting the stage for a 5th set, winner take all short game played only to 15!

The 5th set was back and forth the whole way with neither team having more than a 2 point advantage until a Colby kill put them up 9-12.  We never blinked and after trading a couple of points, Molly got a kill and their setter stepped over the center line to tie up the game at 14-14.  Our defense came up huge in the end of this game as many of the points were long rallies and we seemed to be the team a little more on the offensive, but their defense was also coming up with huge digs.  After an attacking error by them put us up 15-14, the final rally seemed to go on forever.  I seriously think I jumped off the bench at least twice thinking we'd put the final kill down only to have a Colby player barely get under it and keep it alive before Molly went up for a final HIT.  The ball actually came down on our side but the whistle had blown and their blocker was in the net.  Honestly, I think she was exhausted from trying to block Molly several times in the final points and after such a long rally, that final KILL was the topper, propelling us to a NESCAC CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!

VICTORY!!  How sweet it is!!   AND, that meant that we could play another weekend in the NCAA's!!

First Quarterfinal Win for Seniors

This senior class has had an amazing career, making the NCAA tournament 2 of their 3 years so far despite not advancing past the Quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament.  (Making it to the NCAA's this year would be 3 of 4 years!)  This year was shaping up to be another great season and there was a time when we thought we could make the NCAA's again even if we didn't win the NESCAC, but those hopes were dashed the final weekend of the season losing to two un-ranked teams and dropping 20 points in the new NPI ranking system.  That drop pretty much took us out of contention for any NCAA bid unless we got the AQ from winning the NESCAC Championship.  

First things first, however, we had to beat Bowdoin...again!  At least we would be home this time, and we hadn't lost in our gym all season.  As a matter of fact, the last time we lost in our gym was last year in the NESCAC Quarterfinals...and we were determined to NOT let that happen again.  As if writing a dramatic saga, we lost the first two sets, as we had done during the season, and we seemed to be teetering on the edge of history repeating itself, for better or for worse (we could lose the Quarterfinal match for the 4th straight year, or we could reverse sweep Bowdoin for a second time this season!)

Fortunately for our Team Story, we reverse swept them and kept our home undefeated streak alive and well!  PEPIN IS OUR HOUSE!!  We were on a mission, and the first team in our way was Bowdoin.  One down, one to go (in keeping with ONE game at a time mentality!)  We were alive and on to the Championships to be hosted by Colby College the following weekend!  And, when the Quarterfinals were finished, Colby (#1) was to play Williams (#6) and MIDD (#2) was to play Wesleyan (#4).  The re-seed the final weekend and since Williams was advancing as the lowest seed, the drew the #4 seed, bumping Wes up to the #3 seed, and playing us.  Since we'd played them twice already, us winning both 3-1, we felt confident but realizing sometimes it's tough to beat the same team 3 times in one season.

5 Game Skid to End Regular Season and Spur Post Season Run

Well, we got to see what #4 in the country looked like when we played MIT.  They were good, and although we didn't think we played our best, they were a very tough opponent and forced us out of what we wanted to do.  We did have some alums and parents of alums there to watch in addition to some of our own parents, and we still had two good teams to play the next day vs Springfield and Babson, both ranked in the top of NE.  To the right are the parents of former standout setter, Katie Kenney Enslin '03, and below is former player and coach, Meg Anderson '14.  We LOVE the support we continue to get from former MCVB families, reinforcing that MCVB really is "family for life!"  THANK YOU!

Unfortunately for us, our woes continued the next day as we lost a tightly contested Springfield match in 5 sets and then lost another tightly contested 3 set sweep by Babson.  Needless to say, it was a disappointing weekend for us as we just were out of sync and couldn't quite put a run together anywhere on the court.  It was an odd sensation after having played so well together for quite a stretch.  Moreover, none of us seemed able to put a finger on just what exactly was going wrong.

Well, we got back to work and still felt like we had a lot of volleyball left to play.  We were still ranked 2nd in both the NESCAC and in the Region and were heading into our final weekend against the two lowest ranking teams in our Conference, which actually doesn't mean all that much because everyone is SO good and the parity among NESCAC teams is tremendous, but there you are.  We had already guaranteed ourselves a home game for the playoffs regardless of the outcome, but of course, we wanted to finish strongly and end with a 9-1 record in Conference for the first time ever!  We had a great week of practice and celebrated Halloween at our final practice before hitting the road.  

As fate would have it, our woes seemed to continue as we went down 0-2 sets to Amherst the first night.  We couldn't seem to get any momentum, and they were fighting and winning the long rallies, it seemed.  Statistically, we had more kills and a higher hitting % (by a little bit), but they out blocked us and also had more service aces and those were two categories that we prided ourselves in all season, so that was disappointing.  Anyway, we came back to force a 5th and deciding set and seemed poised to erase a potentially bad loss but came up short and lost 10-15 in the final.  A bummer for sure, but we were on the road that night toward Hamilton with a chance the very next day to redeem ourselves and finish the regular season on a high note.

Not to be, apparently, as we promptly went down 0-2 sets again, just like the night before.  Again, we came back to win the next two and force a 5th and deciding set.  Against Bowdoin earlier in the season we'd broken a somewhat long streak of not winning 5th sets, and we felt confident that we could overcome anything...we narrowly lost the 2nd set and came back to win the 3rd and 4th sets in somewhat more dominating fashion keeping them in the teens both sets.  I think we felt like "it" was coming back, meaning our confidence and our style of play, so despite losing the first two sets, we felt ready to reverse sweep them for our final regular season win.  As in the night before, we had more kills and a higher hitting %, but got out blocked and had fewer service aces, which we knew was not a good combination. Lillian came through with a big performance with 15 kills and a .289 hitting % and Gabbie was only 1 kill away from a triple double (9 K, 46 As, 19 D), but it wasn't quite enough to stop them from grabbing the final set 13-15.  Needless to say, it was a very disappointing weekend, and we'd need to do some soul searching before hosting a tough Bowdoin team in the NESCAC Quarterfinals at home the following weekend.

Senior Day Celebration and WIN

 

Senior Day is always a fun night to single out our seniors and celebrate their contributions to our Program.  We were unsure if Gabbie was going to be able to play until literally Saturday morning, affecting our game plan a bit, but thank goodness we had Bart this year...for the past two years we have not had a true backup setter, and fortunately we never had to figure out what we'd do IF Gabbie got hurt!

Once Caitlin tore her other knee in practice (SO SAD!), it left just Gabbie and Steph as the seniors in uniform, although Caitlin sat in for Brian as my Assistant Coach for our senior day match vs Wesleyan, which was great.  She has such a high volleyball IQ and always has relevant and motivational and insightful comments for the team, so she played a varied but key role despite her injury.  During our pre match serve and pass time we determined that Gabbie was indeed ready to play, which was amazing news!  These three seniors have given so much to our Program over their years, it's always fun to more formally celebrate them with their parents in town.  These are the posters for each player that the team put together for them and what was read before the game:

Stephanie Mayer is an International Politics and Economics Major with a focus in Spanish, and has a Minor in Computer Science.  She is from Wilmette, IL and is joined by her parents, Heidi and Greg Mayer.  Steph has been a two-time recipient of the Team Spirit Award, given by her teammates to recognize consistent positivity and the encouraging spirit of MIDD Volleyball.  

Caitlin Smith is a Psychology major and has a double minor in Spanish and Gender Studies.  Caitlin is from Mill Valley, CA and is joined by her parents, Julie and Brandon Smith.  Caitlin has been the recipient of our “Yellow Jersey” award given by her teammates, honoring the player that gives consistent effort daily in practice and who goes above and beyond in their efforts to become a better player throughout the season.  

Gabbie O’Toole is a Psychology Major with a minor in Global Health.  She is from Overland Park, KS, and is joined by her parents, Debbie and Kerry O’Toole.  Gabbie has had an illustrious career at Middlebury.  She was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year and the AVCA Region Freshman of the Year. She’s been 2^nd Team All-NESCAC twice and last year was 1^st Team All-NESCAC, as well as a multi-year Honorable Mention All-American and 1^st Team All-Region honoree.

After the second WIN against Wesleyan, and the one that counted, we were now 7-1 in NESCAC and heading into a non-Conference weekend vs three of the top NEWMAC teams.  Our final regular season weekend was the last NESCAC weekend vs Amherst and Hamilton.  With MIT ranked #4 in the country, we were excited about the upcoming weekend...

Battle of the Undefeated Teams

 

After a great Alumni Weekend, we headed up to Maine to face both Bowdoin and Colby, and Colby was the only other currently undefeated team left in the NESCAC, which was sure to be a battle.  We had to get through Bowdoin first, though!

After going down two sets to none against Bowdoin, it may have looked a little grim from the fan's perspective.  I don't know that we felt that the same on the bench since we weren't really playing all that badly, but it seemed to be a match of small swings in both directions.  We fought back to take the next two sets, albeit close ones, and the 5th set started somewhat the same, with small spurts by both teams.  

Molly came through for us, as usual and led all players with 19 kills, but Devin McCormack came through with her season high of 15 kills and gave us the boost we were looking for in a close match.  Gabbie O'Toole got a key block at 13-13 and then Devin slipped a little tip over the block for the WIN!!  

We had a higher hitting % (.237 to .202) despite having fewer overall kills (they had 65 to our 58, but also they had 27 hitting errors to our 17), giving us the edge in that category, as well as holding a slight blocking edge.  It was apparently a bit of a monkey off our backs as Caitlin told me after the game that that was the first 5 set match we'd won since 2021!  (Maybe I'm glad I didn't recall that stat at the time?!)  Anyway, the reverse sweep sure felt good!!  We got out Thai delivered to the hotel there in Brunswick and ate in the breakfast area while we all watched the 5th set of Williams vs Colby on our phones.  Williams was up in the 5th, but went on to lose, setting the stage for the two undefeated teams left to meet the next day!

Our first set against Colby was pretty close, but the big news during the match was that Gabbie sprained her ankle when a Colby hitter came under the net.  It was a bit intense as the Colby coach was disputing the ref's call while Gabbie is on the ground and clearly hurt, but our team rallied behind first year setter Campbell Bartley and remained very competitive for the rest of the match, despite losing in straight sets.  That was Campbell's first action of the year and despite the sad circumstances, she made us all confident knowing that our future would be bright--I mean, we do have to let Gabbie graduate after all.  This is a bit of foreshadowing, but that reverse sweep would bolster our confidence and propel us to greater heights...but not before we hit another roadblock other than Gabbie getting hurt...

Alumni Weekend = Gabbie O'Toole's 3000th Assist

Both Gabbie's 3000th Assist and our best attended Alumni Weekend needed more pictures and coverage, so this is an extra post expounding on both of those fun events!  Gabbie O'Toole became only the 2nd player in MCVB history to eclipse 3000 assists, and sits in 2nd place overall for a career with 3524 total assists.  Not only that, but she also ranks 5th overall for Service Aces/Set for a career with .42.  

This amazing feat came against a very young, but talented Tufts Team that we just out-played by making fewer errors, really.  And, it was awesome to have all our alums in the stands as well, so a big THANK YOU to all of them for coming back!  I want to give a special shout-out to Lucy Ambach and Kelly Ferrero as the main catalysts for getting people motivated to come back, which I think really helped our turnout.

This was our first alumni weekend where we had enough people to actually play a game on Saturday am before our Tufts match.  With the win over Tufts, we extended our win streak to 9 matches and remained undefeated in Conference!  

We had a fun meet-n-greet in Kenyon Lounge after the match so the current team could get acquainted with the alums and maybe even start to network a bit, which is always nice.  Then the alums headed downtown to Ups for a drink before going on to Flatbread for dinner.  I was able to join them for a quick drink at Ups--something we obviously never did when they were students, so that was fun!  What a group...watching the alumni game in the morning brought back great memories as I watched them warm up and play.  MCVB definitely IS family for life!!