Netters at full throttle in 2-0 NESCAC weekend Loss to Skidmore is midseason wake-up call before two big conference wins

Author: Sarah Luehrman

A good team knows how to take it all in stride, as the Panthers demonstrated after their loss to Skidmore last Wednesday, Oct. 5. They put their heads down, practiced a little harder and went 2-0 last weekend against two league rivals, Amherst and Hamilton. After a busy week followed by a busy weekend, Middlebury improved its overall season record to 9-5 and their NESCAC record to 5-2. "Our match against Skidmore was a mid-season wake up call," commented captain Lacee Patterson '06. "But luckily it woke us up because we had a great NESCAC weekend."

Skidmore brought the Panthers yet another five-game match. There has been no shortage of worthy competition this season, to be sure. After the Thoroughbreds won the first game 30-26, the Panthers took games two and three 30-26 and 30-25. However, the fourth game proved a challenge, as it has often done for Middlebury these days, and Skidmore resurfaced to win two in a row, 30-24 and 15-7, Middlebury's offense played a strong game, totaling 70 kills overall, with Lindsay Patterson '08, Lexie Fisher '08, Jackie Edwards '06 and Kate Heath '09 all scoring in the double digits, and Patterson '06 had 53 assists. Patterson '08 and Patterson '06 led the defense, with 25 and 22 kills, respectively.

On Saturday, Oct. 8, the Panthers faced Amherst for the second time this season and defeated the Jeffs in yet another five-game match. "They brought a stronger game this past Saturday," according to captain Jamie Wong '06. "Unfortunately for them, we played more soundly than we ever have before and fought to beat them for the second time."

"Everyone individually picked up their game," said Patterson '06, "and it translated to team effort to go 2-0 over the weekend." The match began well for the Panthers. After winning two strong games 30-24 and 30-25, they began to experience some of the difficulty that always seems to find them late in the match and dropped games three and four 19-30 and 20-30. "They changed up their offense a bit in the third which kind of threw us a bit at first, but more importantly than that was we seemed to lose our fire," said Head Coach Sarah Raunecker. "Balls were dropping untouched, and almost without a movement to play it."

However, Middlebury found its sense of urgency in the fifth game and took the match victory with a 15-10 win. "In the last game, balls were not dropping - people were at least getting a touch on it, and then someone else would track it down and we'd end up keeping the ball in play," observed Raunecker. Fisher provided 16 kills on the offense with 42 assists from Patterson '06, and Wong led the defense with 26 digs. Patterson '08 and Olivia Minkhorst '09 backed her up with 18 digs each. Once again, Amherst gave Middlebury reason for optimism as they approach the NESCAC tournament. "It showed us that we really can compete with teams in the league," commented Patterson '06.

Middlebury rode the wave of their Amherst victory to sweep Hamilton in a comparatively effortless three games, 30-21, 30-21 and finally 30-15. Fisher put down 11 kills with 35 assists by Patterson '06, and Wong backed the team once again with 14 digs.

Overall, the Panthers performed quite well over the weekend, but they have plenty to work on in anticipation of some big matches. "Losing our focus [late in the match] is something that we will need to really work on," says Raunecker, referring to the close shave against Amherst. "It's happened to us in previous matches, most notably Trinity, but also in other matches, and we really need to fix that if we want to be the team we know we can be." Middlebury will face Colby-Sawyer Thursday, Oct. 13 in Pepin Gymnasium, followed by a trip to NESCAC rival Tufts to play the Jumbos on Sunday Oct. 16.