Friday night marked the last time Amherst's four seniors, co-captains Missy Mordy and Erin Dittus, along with Irene Lee and Paula Yanes, would compete at LeFrak Gymnasium. They rose to the occasion along with the rest of the team to earn two solid victories.
Amherst began family weekend with a win against Brandeis (8-16), three games to one. The Firedogs took the first two games from the Judges handily, winning 30-21 and then 30-23 before dropping the third game, 26-30. But Amherst won the final game of the match with an eight point margin of victory. The superb play of outside hitter Jess Allen '04 on both offense and defense sparked the Firedogs-Allen tallied 17 kills and a match-high 24 digs. Offensively, Hoeksma led the way, setting up Amherst with 51 assists.
The seniors also played well in their penultimate game at LeFrak. Dittus had 15 kills on offense and Lee had 18 digs, while Mordy totaled 11. Outside hitter Nicole Davidson '05 had 15 digs as well. Amherst was out for blood in the nightcap in a rematch with Colby (19-8). Last weekend, the Mules defeated the Firedogs 3-1 in NESCAC play. This time around, Amherst took control early and never let go, sweeping Colby in three close games by scores of 30-22, 30-22 and 30-27. Hoeksma again set up the offense with 30 assists. Allen and Dittus each had 11 kills, followed by middle blocker Sara Bruggeman '06 and outside hitter Kate Raddock '06 with eight and five kills, respectively. Allen again showed her skills on defense as well as offense with 16 digs. Lee and Mordy combined for 17 digs in their farewell home match.
For Dittus, the win against Colby was merely "icing on the cake" on a night that held much more meaning with the combination of family weekend and her final home matches. "The fact that my parents would never see me play again was kind of a signal of the end of an era for me, for my own life as an athlete," she said.
Unfortunately, Friday's exuberance enervated rather than invigorated the Firedogs. The next day, Amherst lost two straight matches for the first time all season, tallying their fourth and fifth losses to MIT and Gordon, respectively.
"Saturday, our team was physically and emotionally drained from the night before and we did a poor job of refocusing on the next two matches," said Dittus.
The Firedogs fell to the Engineers at noon in three close games, losing twice by three points and once by only two. Middle hitter Lauren Wong '05 and Allen played well in defeat with nine kills apiece. Hoeksma had 31 assists, putting her weekend total to well over 100.
In the second game of the afternoon, Amherst lost to New England powerhouse Gordon (28-1) for the second time this season in three straight games (25-30, 25-30, 24-30). Dittus had nine kills, four digs and three blocks in the losing effort, while Davidson had eight kills and four service aces.
Next weekend, the Firedogs travel to Williams for the Little III Tournament before beginning postseason play Nov. 8 against Tufts University.