On Friday, Oct. 11 and Saturday, Oct. 12, the Firedogs finished 3-1 at a NESCAC competition at Tufts. Amherst had not competed since the Sept. 28 Amherst Classic, where it defeated Middlebury to take third. Two weeks later, the Firedogs again faced the Panthers, this time in league play.
Amherst came out slow, losing the first game of the match 28-30. "We came out a little slow because we were expecting the same outcome, but when they played much better against us, we picked up the intensity and started to play our game," said co-captain and setter Missy Mordy '03.
The Firedogs came back to win three straight games and take the match from the Panthers. Co-captain and outside hitter Erin Dittus '03 led the offense with 17 kills, while middle blocker Sara Bruggeman '06 solidified the defense with six blocks.
Next up for Amherst was a highly-awaited match-up with arch-rival Williams (21-3). Last season, Williams ended Amherst's season in the NESCAC semifinals, but Amherst will have to wait to exact revenge for a few more weeks. The Ephs ended the Firedogs' undefeated run in league play, winning three straight close games by scores of 26-30, 23-30 and 24-30. Setter Annie Hoeksma '05 had 18 assists in the defeat and setter Irene Lee '03 totaled 16 digs.
The loss to Williams did not hurt Amherst's confidence, as the team recovered quickly to win two more games on Saturday versus Hamilton (0-7) and Tufts (14-8). Dittus again proved a leader on the court with 22 kills, bringing her total for the weekend to 46 kills and 11 digs on defense. Outside hitter Jess Allen '04 put up similarly impressive numbers for the weekend with 32 kills, eight service aces, 21 digs and seven blocks. Hoeksma finished the weekend with 142 assists and Bruggeman also put up gaudy numbers on the weekend with 14 blocks.
On Oct. 15, Amherst defeated Westfield State (6-11) at Westfield, sweeping the match with 30-17, 30-15 and 30-15 victories. "[Although] it was a mid-week game ... our team came out strong," said Mordy, who had three digs in the win.
The team finished up this blitz with a trip to Maine for a NESCAC Quad at Colby this past weekend. Amherst fared well against all three Maine foes, finishing 2-1. On Friday, the Firedogs dominated the Bowdoin Polar Bears by scores of 30-21, 30-10 and 30-15.
The next morning, Amherst fell to Colby in four close games, losing the first two games, winning the third and then dropping the fourth and final game. The Firedogs tallied at least 21 points in each game, but the Mules were able to hang on for the victory. In the nightcap, Amherst soundly defeated Bates in three games, winning by scores of 30-28, 30-18 and 30-25.
Allen again fronted the offense with 32 kills on the weekend, often set up by Hoeksma, who posted 102 assists over the three matches. Lee shone on defense with 55 digs for the tournament.
Amherst faces Brandeis University on Friday evening with a possible rematch against Colby later on in the final home games of the season in the Hall of Fame Tournament. "This should be a very fun and exciting weekend for us because the NESCAC Tourney is already set," said Mordy "Now we just have some games to fine-tune some of our game and really get ready for the big tournament."
With the number three seed, the Firedogs face sixth-seeded Tufts in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament to be played Nov. 8-9 and will have to face neither Colby until the semifinals nor Williams until the finals if all three teams advance into the later rounds. Williams is seeded first and will host the tournament, while Colby owns the number two seed. However, in a NESCAC season that has seen upsets across the board-Trinity and Tufts over Colby and Colby over Williams-according to Mordy, "any team can win the NESCAC Tournament."