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...