2-1 Weekend for Panther Volleyball in Massachusetts

The Middlebury volleyball team spent the weekend in Massachusetts tuning up for postseason play at the Hall of Fame tournament. The NESCAC tournament is set to begin on Friday, Nov. 7 and the Panthers wrap up their regular season with matchups on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 against conference foes Connecticut College and Tufts.

In action at Amherst and Smith in the Hall of Fame tournament, the Panthers beat Brandeis and MIT in four and five sets respectively, and lost a tough battle against Springfield in five sets for the trips’ final matchup on Saturday afternoon.

Friday night’s bout with Brandeis saw Middlebury get off to a hot start. In the first set, the Panthers and Judges were knotted up at 11 before a service error by Brandeis led to six straight Middlebury points and a 14 to three run to take the set.

The second set went the way of the Judges, who jumped on top of the Panthers 10-3. Down 19-12, Middlebury head coach Sarah Raunecker subbed in Charlotte Devine ’17 and Alice Roberts ’18, who promptly helped Middlebury’s cause with a kill. However, it would not be enough, as the Judges would take the set without much resistance.

In set three, Olivia Kolodka ’15 set the tone with a kill to give the Panthers the first point from which they never looked back, taking the set 25-17. The fourth and final set saw the Panthers off to a decisive 20-2 lead. During that span, the Panthers went on two big runs: one of seven straight points and one of 11 straight points. They won the set 25-13 to finish off Brandeis.

In Saturday’s early match, the Panthers built off of the momentum gained Friday night, as they edged the 24-4 MIT Engineers, who received votes in the ACVA Division III national poll earlier this week.

The Panthers grabbed the opening set by a 25-21 count. MIT took a 2-1 set lead after a pair of 25-16 and 25-22 victories.

The Panthers showed strong resolve as they took the last two sets from the Engineers, 25-17 and 15-13 respectively.

Becca Raffel ’18 led the Middlebury attack with 15 kills, while fellow first-year Roberts had 14. Olivia Kolodka had nine kills, Gabi Rosenfeld ’17 added six and Hannah Blackburn ’17 contributed 43 assists.

The late matchup with Springfield saw the Panthers fall in five sets despite winning the first two sets 27-25 and 25-17. The Pride stole a victory away in the final three sets by margins of 25-17, 25-19 and 15-8.

Raffel’s efforts were rewarded by her selection as Middlebury’s representative to the all-tournament team. In three matches, the first-year racked up 37 kills, maintained a .234 hitting percentage, posted 13 digs on the defensive side as well as a block and three block assists.

Through 21 games, the Panthers sport 11 wins to 10 losses overall and a record of 5-3 in NESCAC play. The final two matches against Connecticut College (12-9, 4-4) and Tufts (17-7, 7-1) present challenges to the Panthers on multiple fronts.

In terms of seeding for the conference tournament, wins (and some help) can put the Panthers into a tie for first place with a combination of multiple other teams. Losses can see the Panthers’ seed slip from their current position as the five seed down to the seventh seed.