NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College volleyball team picked up a crucial 3-2 victory against Williams College on Saturday afternoon in a highly-competitive NESCAC battle at Luce Field House.
The Camels overcame a slow start in the final set to win by scores of 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 24-26 and 17-15.
Rae Wartelle (Tacoma, Wash.) finished with a match-high 17 kills, one of five Conn players with double-digit kills on the day. The trio of
Aubrie Letourneau (Mattapoisett, Mass.),
Lexi Rosenblatt (Austin, Texas) and
Josie Kelly (Solana Beach, Calif.) combined for 53 assists while
Taylor Merrifield (Honolulu, Hawaii) produced a team-high 14 digs.
Keira Deeney (Norwell, Mass.) got the Camels started on the right foot with five kills in the opening set. Conn, which never trailed in the frame and used a 5-0 spurt to build an 18-11 advantage, won six of the final seven points to go up 1-0 in the match.
Williams led 19-12 in the second set before the hosts ripped off six straight points to pull within one. The Ephs never yielded the lead, however, as late kills from Marin Vaughns and Adalena Rodgers helped even up the match at 1-1.
Conn responded with a monster third set on the offensive side, recording 20 kills on 39 swings and hitting .410 as a team. Wartelle led the charge with six kills in the stanza as the Camels went back on top 2-1.
Conn took a 6-1 lead to start the fourth and pushed the margin to 11-4. The Ephs swung the momentum with a 7-1 run to close the gap to one, and later took their first lead of the set at 18-17 following back-to-back aces by Ellie Simons. With the score knotted at 24-24, a service error brought the visitors to set point, and a block by Vaughns and Maya Thompson evened the match at 2-2.
The Ephs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set and later held a 9-6 advantage. The Camels scored three straight points to tie the score, a sequence that included a kill and an ace by Wartelle along with a block by
Vibha Sheth (Austin, Texas) and
Emilie Ferdinand (Stoneham, Mass.).
Moments later, Conn trailed 14-12 with Williams serving for the match. Another block—this time by Deeney and Sheth—kept the Camels in the hunt, and a Williams error tied the score at 14-14. Deeney followed with a kill to put Conn up 15-14, only for the Ephs to pull even once again on a kill by Kate Lane.
The final two points were decided at the service line. After a serve into the net brought about match point for Conn,
Caroline Festersen (Omaha, Neb.) dotted the back line with her serve to push the Camels over the top.
Ferdinand finished with 12 kills while Sheth and Deeney each recorded 11.
Tilde Keatley (Pasadena, Calif.) also chipped in 10 kills and nine digs on the afternoon.
Rodgers and Lane finished with 13 kills apiece to lead Williams (11-7 overall, 4-4 NESCAC).
Conn (7-9 overall, 3-5 NESCAC) will next play at Mount Holyoke College on Friday, October 23 at 6:00 p.m.
