From the outset, there were big shoes to fill, high expectations to meet. Last season, Amherst volleyball had the most successful season in program history, tying the school record victory total with a season tally of 30-5. Even more impressively, the squad advanced to the Elite Eight of the Div. III National Championship for the first time in program history.
Yes, there were smiles galore and celebrations to be had—but only for a while. After the banner was raised in LeFrak and the seniors had been recognized and sent off, it was back to work. The exploits of the previous year were not completely forgotten, though. As Assistant Coach Whitney Kouvaris (who was a senior on the 2007 Elite Eight team) put it, “Last year’s success was a great reminder [for this year’s team] that teamwork and dedication are required to win.” Obviously, building on last year’s success was going to be difficult, but the Firedogs seem to live for challenges.
The process began in the summer, when the ladies arrived on campus a week early to bond and practice without any academic distractions. “The extra week in the summer was a great opportunity for the team to bond, and also a time for us to put in a lot of hard work so we would be ready for the season,” said Jaclyn Berkeley, a sophomore middle hitter. ‘Hard work’ meant four to five hours of practice a day. It wasn’t always easy, and there were a substantial number of ice bags taken from the training room, but the team, as Berkley put it, “knew it would pay off when the season started.”
If the beginning of the season was any indication, 2008 would be a special year for Amherst. The purple and black rattled off three straight victories in their first weekend of action to give Head Coach Sue Everden her 500th win. With the win, Everden, a coach with seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm, became one of only 22 Div. III women’s volleyball coaches in history to reach that prestigious mark. It was a fitting achievement for a woman many players describe as the ‘perfect head coach’. But Everden wasn’t just a player favorite, either; Amherst fans long ago became used to seeing her dive across LeFrak’s wood floors to encourage her players. Chants of “Sue! Sue! Sue!” echoed off the walls regularly.
Everden and the Firedogs rattled off five wins in a row before suffering their first loss of the year to Wellesley College. The defeat marked a severe setback for the team; not only was it Amherst’s first defeat, but it also came right before NESCAC play began. Making things more difficult, Amherst began its conference season three hours away from home, facing off against Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin Colleges, all in Maine. But, as the Firedogs showed all season, the team rose to the challenge when obstacles presented themselves.
Amherst swept all three of its Maine opponents without dropping a single set. The weekend served as a coming-out party for first-years Christy Meier and Katherine Kanoff, who combined for a 24-kill game against Bowdoin. Libero Rachel Yorke also played outstanding volleyball, totaling double-digits in digs in game after game.
After the Maine tour, the team returned to Western Massachusetts to host the Amherst classic. The tournament opened with a match against Brandeis University, which dealt Amherst one of its five losses last year in a fiercely fought contest. This time around, the match was just as exciting, but when the dust cleared, it was Amherst who stood victorious, beating the Judges, 3-1. The game wasn’t all positive, though. Mere points into the first set, senior Sara Heller went down with an ankle injury, and sophomore Kate Jordan was thrust into the setting role. Though the team feared it had lost irreplaceable talent and leadership with Heller’s fall, they carried on seamlessly. Jordan proved to be more that serviceable in the setter spot, racking up a career-high 44 balls, while Heller continued to provide guidance and encouragement from the sidelines. “We knew Kate would do great when she came in,” said Berkley, “and Heller is always going to be a leader on this team whether she is on crutches or on the court.” The squad wrapped up the weekend by beating Middlebury College and Westfield State University, clinching the Amherst Classic title and extending its winning streak to six.
Just when it seemed everything was going Amherst’s way, it all came to a screeching halt. In the weekend following the Amherst Classic, the team dropped three consecutive games in the span of a week, losing to Tufts University, Trinity College and Wesleyan University. All three opponents were top contenders in the NESCAC, and those were the kind of matches the Firedogs needed to win if they were going to make it back to the NCAA Elite Eight. On the positive side, only the loss to Tufts counted in the NESCAC standings, so Amherst was still 3-1 in league, right in the hunt for first place.
After a string of losses, many teams would throw the towel in on their seasons. The Firedogs, however, did the opposite. “The losses were a wake-up call for us,” said Berkley. “We knew we would have to step our game up.” And step it up Amherst did, as it rattled off five straight wins, putting the team at 6-1 in the NESCAC—good enough for second place, right behind undefeated Tufts. The winning streak culminated with two straight wins over archrival Williams College. The wins weren’t close victories either; Amherst wiped the floor with the Ephs both times, in what were the Jeffs’ best performances of the season to date. “I guess if you’re going to get hot,” said Berkley, “that’s a pretty good time to do it.”
After the Williams victories, Amherst was brought back to reality, losing three of its next five games to close out the regular season. The defeats all came at the hands of teams that had beaten them earlier in the season: Wellesley, Tufts, and Wesleyan.
If there ever were a team that “chose” good times to lose, however, Amherst is that team—like earlier in the season, only one of the three losses counted in the league standings. Thus, Amherst finished the season 8-2 in league, good enough for the number three seed in the NESCAC Tournament. The Firedogs face Connecticut College tonight, with semifinal and final matches against Wesleyan and Tufts looming. The weekend presents the perfect opportunity for the Jeffs to exact revenge on the teams that dealt them losses earlier this year.
Granted, Amherst is coming off of a bit of a cold streak. Nonetheless, the squad still has a “great chance to win the NESCAC this weekend and advance to the NCAA Tournament next week,” said Kouvaris. “However, we will have to overcome some tough challenges against very good teams in order to do this.”
Tough challenges for the Firedogs? Sounds like the ideal time to rise to the occasion.