The women's volleyball team finished its regular season with the third seed in the NESCAC tournament and a vague, but realistic, hope to gain the conference bid into the NCAA tournament. But the road to the Big Dance was blocked by two formidable obstacles: first-seed Wesleyan University and second-seed Williams College. Although the Firedogs and the Ephs held identical league records of 8-2, the head-to-head between the two squads gave the Ephs the higher seed.
History would repeat itself; Amherst would end its campaign with a loss to Williams in the semifinals on Saturday, following a win over Colby College the previous night.
On Friday, the Firedogs powered through an overmatched White Mules squad for a three-game win, 30-17, 30-27, 30-17. Against Colby, the Amherst lines came out firing on all cylinders, paced by Co-captain Erica Hewes '02, with 12 kills on 22 attempts. Hewes was trailed by Erin Dittus '03, who tallied four slams in the three game match.
Co-captain Meredith DeMeules '02 coordinated the Firedog effort with an 18-assist night, posting a side-leading 13 digs. Junior defensive specialists Irene Lee and Missy Mordy backed up DeMeules, posting seven digs each, while three Firedogs-Jessica Allen '04, Annie Hoeksma '05 and Nicole Davidson '05-each contributed five digs to the win. Dittus and Lauren Wong '04 patrolled the net, each recording 3.5 blocks on the match.
Both co-captains agreed on the difference between the Colby match and the fray against Williams. "Our match against Colby was really good because we were able to stay consistent throughout the game," said Hewes.
The inconsistent play of Amherst resulted in a season-ending loss to Williams, leaving the 24-7 Jeffs no hope for an at-large bid to NCAAs. "There were a few times where we lost a large number of points," said Hewes. "And with the new scoring system, it's almost impossible to regain a lead when you are down by more than six or seven points."
After dropping the first game of the match, the Firedogs battled back to take the second frame, 30-23. But the Ephs didn't let up and took the third and fourth games to advance to the finals. In defeat, Hewes posted 23 out of the team total 40 kills and DeMeules accounted for all 34 Amherst assists. The team combined for 70 digs, with several Firedogs in double digits. Hewes, Hoeksma and Natalie Brooks '04 combined for 12 of the 14.5 team blocks.
"It's upsetting that we lost, because I feel like our team still had a lot of potential that we didn't really use up all the way," said DeMeules. "But it was a fun and fulfilling season anyway."
The squad will lose DeMeules and Hewes to graduation. The two have led the most successful class in program history, with a 105-23 career record at Amherst. Both have been named to the All-NESCAC team several times. The duo have witnessed Amherst win two consecutive NESCAC championships, as well as three NCAA berths.