Nothing hurts more than losing to Williams College. The Firedogs (10-3, 4-1 NESCAC) went 2-1 this past weekend in a series of crucial NESCAC matches, defeating Hamilton College and Middlebury College, 3-0 and 3-2 respectively, but were defeated by the Ephs, 1-3.
Amherst started off the weekend on the wrong foot with the 1-3 loss to their archrivals. The Firedogs began strong and took the first set, 25-23, but Williams rebounded to take the next three sets, 15-25, 15-25, and 20-25, winning the match. Sophomore hitters Cristy Meier and Katherine Kanoff led Amherst’s offensive efforts, with Meier racking up a team-high fifteen kills and Kanoff tallying three digs and 13 kills. Junior middle-hitter Laura Hyman also performed well in the loss, with six kills and four blocks. Tri-captain Jackie Berkley ’11 added three kills and two blocks. Setter Katherine Jordan ’11 was again all over the floor, dishing out 38 assists, while classmate, tri-captain libero Rachel Yorke led the defense with a team-high 16 digs.
The loss put significant pressure on the Firedogs, who would have to perform well against Hamilton and Middlebury the next day to stay above .500 in the NESCAC standings. However, Berkley ’10 brushed off the Williams loss, attributing it to the team’s own errors rather than the Ephs’ skill.
“Sure, Williams is a good team, but we definitely beat ourselves on Friday night,” Berkeley commented.
Berkley’s words were proven right on Saturday when the Firedogs came out with a bang against Hamilton. Amherst steamrolled over Hamilton in three straight sets, winning 25-10, 25-9, and 25-9. Resting up for the Middlebury match, which began only an hour after their Hamilton match, the Firedogs used a balanced attack to get the job done. Setters Jordan and Callie Nielson ’13 had 16 and 13 assists, respectively. Meier and Kanoff tallied 10 and eight kills, respectively. Hyman had another strong game with six kills and four blocks, while senior tri-captain Bethany Belisle recorded a team-high 11 digs.
However, the Firedogs strong play waned temporarily early in their match against Middlebury. The Panthers jumped out to a two set lead, with 15-25 and 20-25 victories. However, the Firedogs woke up in the third set and turned things around with a close 25-23 victory, before finally pulling out the victory with 25-12 and 15-12 wins in the fourth and fifth sets. Meier led the offense, as she had all weekend, with 19 kills, while Kanoff was close behind with 13 kills and eight digs. Nielson added 28 more assists to her weekend stats, along with another 13 from Jordan. Yorke showed off her defensive chops with 25 digs, and classmate Erin Camp boasted 11 digs and a pair of aces.
Berkley expressed pride in her team for their rebound against Middlebury after the Williams loss and last week’s loss to the Panthers, as well the comeback from a two-set deficit.
“We responded well on Saturday, by showing a lot of character in the Middlebury match,” said Berkley. “It’s hard to come back from two games down but for whatever reason, we love to play from behind.”
The Firedogs get a brief respite from the NESCAC with a mid-week game against Smith College followed by a round of non-NESCAC opponents in the Crabtree Classic this weekend at Eastern Connecticut State University.