CAC Tournament, the Firedogs must focus on their successes and accomplishments of this season. Despite finishing third in the conference, Amherst has demonstrated its ability to beat anyone in the NESCAC, by defeating every in-conference foe at least once during its run this season. The Firedogs have been ranked first in the New England region and continue to be a force in the Northeast. But the most challenging part of the season lies ahead, and the Firedogs need to maintain their focus and enthusiasm in order to achieve their goals for this season.
Heading into last week's match against the Trinity College Bantams, Amherst was hot off a win against Williams College in the Hall of Fame Tournament. However, it was Trinity that won the first match, 30-28. Amherst roared back with wins in both games two and three, however, rediscovering its offense with respective 30-21 and 30-24 victories. But the Bantams crowed to life in game four to push the match to a fifth game tiebreaker. It was during the tiebreaker that Trinity jumped out to an early lead and was able to maintain control of the game as a result of a rotation fault on the Firedogs. The Bantams won the game 15-13 and took home the match 3-2.
Last weekend's NESCAC Quad saw the Firedogs come to life in their final games of the regular season. Their first contest was against Middlebury College, whom Amherst handled in their previous meeting this season 3-0. The result of this game was another 3-0 victory for Amherst. Senior co-captains Laura Golden, defensive specialist and setter, and Kristin Quinn, middle hitter, held the team together while junior outside hitters Jaclyn DeMais and Whitney Kouvaris added 17 and 15 kills respectively. Sophomore setter Sarah Heller tallied 42 assists in the team's dominant effort.
In Saturday's contest against host Hamilton College, Amherst followed a similar path. The Firedogs downed the Continentals 3-0, led by the offensive onslaught of Quinn and the energy of first-year defensive specialist Bethany Belisle. Quinn smashed 10 kills and posted seven blocks while Belisle played libero and covered the back row, collecting 17 digs on the night. The efforts of Quinn and Belisle were complemented by the usually solid play of Heller, who dished out 38 assists in the match.
The Firedogs certainly rebounded from their early loss to Trinity to win their final two games and finish the regular season on a positive note. But the competition will get tougher, and the Firedogs will face the Bantams again in the first round of the conference tournament. With the team focused and ready for the upcoming NESCAC Tournament, Amherst will give every ounce of effort to continue its season, win the NESCAC Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament-but one game at a time.
"All the teams in the tournament are good," said Golden. "Any team can have an amazing match on any given day. We're hoping that all the practice and lifting will put us on top and hopefully we'll be headed to the NCAAs."
NESCAC Notes
In the first round of the NESCAC playoffs, third-seeded Amherst faces sixth-seeded Trinity, while fourth-seeded Tufts University faces fifth-seeded Connecticut College. The other quarter-final matches include top-seeded Williams College against eighth-seeded Middlebury College and second-seeded Wesleyan University versus seventh-seeded Bowdoin College. These sets of games will take place at on Friday with the semi-finals to be played on Saturday and finally, the finals on Sunday. Williams hosts the tournament.