The season has fallen into a bit of a pattern for the Colby volleyball team, and these past two weekends proved no exception. Despite playing well against New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) opponents, the Mules were once again unable to come away with a league win.
In conference play, the Mules travelled to Williams College where they faced the host team as well as Hamilton College on the weekend of October 8. In non-conference play, Colby hosted Colby-Sawyer and Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) on October 16. The Mules ended the week with one win and three losses, and while all agreed that the team played well, the 0-6 record in conference play remains a thorn in the Mules’ side.
While the rest of the school headed off on fall break, the volleyball team traveled to Williams for their third NESCAC tournament of the season. The Mules opened the tournament with a 3-0 loss to the hosts. This game marked the return of Emily Varni ’12 from injury and she made her presence known with eight digs on the court. Clare Reich ’11 led the team with 17 digs while Maggie Taylor ’13 added another 10 digs, along with two service aces. Offensively, Kate Pleasants ’14 racked up 17 assists, Caitlin Burchill ’12 contributed a team leading four kills, and Kate Bellerose ’14 came up with three kills.
The Mules’ NESCAC frustration continued on Saturday when they faced Hamilton College and lost 3-1. In spite of excellent performances from Burchill, who led the team with nine kills and added an impressive 21 digs, the Mules came away, once again, with a loss. Reich and Pleasants continued their streaks of excellent play, with Reich having a team-leading 23 digs and Pleasants turning in 24 assists and nine digs. Heather Arvidson ’11 added seven kills and five blocks, while Taylor and Lily Kramlich-Taylor ’14 contributed six kills each as well as three blocks for Taylor and four for Kramlich-Taylor.
Redemption was soon to belong to the Mules, however, as they took a break from conference play to host MMA and Colby-Sawyer. Colby had their most exciting game of the weekend against MMA, earning a hard-fought 3-2 win with a score of 19-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16, 15-13. Reich had a collegiate personal best 42 digs, just short of the Colby record of 44. Kramlich-Taylor also set a personal best with her 14 kills, along with seven digs and two blocks. Other impressive performances came from Arvidson with 11 kills and six blocks, Pleasants with 30 digs and 23 assists, and Taylor with 20 digs, five aces and six kills.
Colby-Sawyer proved to be more of a challenge, beating the Mules in their own house 3-0 by a score of 25-14, 25-17, 25-19. It was the usual suspects who had the biggest impact for Colby. Burchill finished with eight kills and 10 digs, Pleasants with 11 digs and 17 assists, Kramlich-Taylor with five kills, and Arvidson with four blocks and four kills.
Although the Mules cannot help but be disappointed with their conference record, the team takes solace in the fact that they are playing well, and in non-conference games seem to be quite capable of competing with opponents. This week, the team has games against Bates on Tuesday and at the University of New England on Thursday. On Saturday, the team faces Regis at home before their last NESCAC competition of the season over Halloween weekend.