Panthers beat all that Maine has to offer

Author: Peter Baumann

For most of Middlebury's sports teams, Senior Day is a celebration of a talented group of athletes who have contributed to the program over the past four years. For the women's volleyball team, it was a celebration of one - and boy, did she celebrate. Led by lone senior Lexie Fisher, the women's volleyball team enjoyed a 3-0 weekend to move to 13-6 on the year.

After sweeping Bates 3-0 on Oct. 12, the Panthers returned to Pepin Gym on Saturday morning to take on league rival Bowdoin.

Middlebury ran into one of the hottest teams in the league. With reigning NESCAC Player of the Week Gillian Page leading the way, the Polar Bears jumped on Middlebury early, picking up a 30-19 victory in the first game, pulling away by scoring 12 of the last 15 points. They carried their momentum over into the second, jumping to an early 6-1 lead and holding off a furious Panther rally to go up two games to none.

"Bowdoin was by far the best team we saw this weekend," said Natalie DuPre '10, "but we knew that we could play better than we did the first two games." Game three saw the teams draw even 10 different times, including late in the contest at 27-27. After Middlebury took the lead, Bowdoin called a timeout to try and settle things down, but emerged clearly less energized than their Panther counterparts. Two Bowdoin mis-hits later the Panthers had cut the lead to 2-1.

"It was incredible," said Dupree. "By the third game we were so tired. But fighting through it and pulling out a win was a huge confidence booster."

But the Panthers were not out of the woods yet. Game four was another closely fought match that saw the teams tied up at 21. From there, Fisher threw the team on her back and willed them to victory. She followed up a great defensive point from Middlebury's back line with her second consecutive block to make the score 23-21, and then followed up a Bowdoin timeout with two consecutive spikes, one down the center and one cross-court to give the Panthers a 26-22 lead. It was the only margin that Middlebury would need, as it went on to win the game 30-24 and set the stage for a winner-take-all, sprint to 15.

Middlebury jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the rubber match but, in keeping with the contest's tradition Bowdoin roared back to tie it at 13 Two points later, after another Bowdoin mishit, Fisher leapt on the right side and drilled a perfect spike down the line for a fitting end to a Middlebury 3-2 victory.

Middlebury would come from behind again against Colby for another 3-2 victory, but the Bowdoin game was clearly the highlight of the day for the Panthers. According to Dupree, sending Fisher out on top was in the back of all of their minds.

"I think that was part of the drive we had in the last game," she said, "making sure she won her last home game. It was definitely inspiring."