CAC foes Wesleyan University and Trinity College. The team entered the weekend hot, riding the coattails of a seven-game winning streak, but the momentum wasn’t enough for the Firedogs to come out of the Wesleyan University Invitational unscathed.
The women’s first game was against host Wesleyan Cardinals in the latest installment of what has become one of the more heated rivalries in the Northeast. “I don’t think there are many teams out there that we get as excited to play against as Wesleyan,” said sophomore Jackie Berkley. Last year, the teams split their series against each other. More notably, however, it seemed that in nearly every set, the intensity was just a little bit higher and the excitement a little more palpable than in an average volleyball game.
This year was somewhat different, and both sides came out looking slightly sloppy. Neither team played well enough to grab control of the game, and it seemed that the advantage switched sides almost as often as the volleyball itself. Wesleyan got out to a quick start, using the energy of its home crowd to take the first set and early match advantage from Amherst in a closely fought battle, 25-21. In the second set, it appeared as though the ‘Dogs had acclimated themselves to their hostile surroundings, and they demonstrated their ability to rebound, taking the set, 25-23. But momentum was a fickle friend, and it seemed that just as soon as Amherst had started to find its rhythm, it disappeared, with Wesleyan beating the Firedogs, 25-23, to take a 2-1 match lead.
The fourth set saw Amherst play its best ball of the weekend, and the team took the set in dominating fashion, 25-17, to set up a decisive fifth set. The Firedogs just didn’t have enough, though, and their poor play in the first and third sets came back to haunt them, as they dropped the match to Wesleyan by losing the fifth and final set, 15-10.
Amherst didn’t have much time to think about the loss, though, since the team had a game against Trinity immediately following the Wesleyan loss. This game also didn’t go as Amherst had hoped it would, and it seemed like every hit by the Firedogs was met with a Trinity dig.
“Trinity played really well,” said Berkley. “We just weren’t able to get any balls by them.” The Firedogs allowed Trinity to play closer than they probably should have, taking the first set by the less-than-convincing score of 30-28. Trinity only got better from there, and the Bantams went on to win the match in five sets, handing Amherst its second loss of the day.
The Firedogs’ season, however, is anything but over. Though both foes for Amherst this weekend were NESCAC members, neither game counted in the standings because it was a tournament, and not a league, match. Therefore, the Firedogs remain 3-0 in the NESCAC and still sit in first place. Furthermore, the team seems to know how to take dissatisfaction and learn from it. “We’re disappointed, but we’re not panicking yet,” said Berkley. “We’re looking forward to getting back on track this week.”