Injury halts winning streak, ends year

Author: Nicole Lam

The Middlebury volleyball season ended in dissappointment this weekend, as the Panthers dropped their first match of the NESCAC tournament 3-1 to the eventual NESCAC champions, the Williams Ephs. The four seniors that will be graduating this year leave behind a rich tradition of leadership and tireless work ethic.

The school week right before the trip to Medford, Mass for the tournament was all jitters as the team was excited for its second chance after losing its regular season tilt with Williams. Unfortunately, libero Natalie DuPre '10 suffered an eye injury during warm-ups, and while she valiantly tried to play in the first game, she was relegated to serving for the rest of the match.

In her place, co-captains Lindsay Patterson '08.5 and Reisa Bloch '09.5 were forced to play more libero than either had up to this point in the season. Patterson in particular had to take on added responsibilities in addition to her normal role as an outside hitter.

Because of the changes, play started out shaky in the first and second games of the match, leading to a 15-25 loss in the first game and a 16-25 loss in the second. Overall, during the first half of the match, the rotations were very fluid despite the initial confusion. The team made constant switches from the front to the back and from the right to the left sides of the court.

"We switched things up several times before finally feeling like we got both the lineup and the strategy that was working best against them," said head coach Sarah Raunecker. "We asked Patterson to play both outside hitter and the libero after Natalie sustained an injury to her right eye during warm-ups."

"We struggled to find a rhythm in the first two games," said Whitney Bean '11, "but in the third game, we came out really strong and took control early."

One of the key players during this game was Bloch, the co-captain who took charge of the defensive play. Bloch recorded 17 digs during the match, good enough for second on the team behind only Caroline Cordle '12, who also picked up a lot of DuPre's slack by recording 18 digs to go with 14 kills.

"Reisa really anchored our back row with some great defense that allowed our offense to step it up and run some plays," said Bean. Patterson seconded her teammate, saying that "in the third game, Reisa had some key digs which really helped us get momentum back."

Despite the strong defense, the Panthers needed to be stronger and more focused during the offensive plays. In the third game, Bloch's digs were able to help secure a 25-22 win for the Panthers, but her defense was not enough to win the fourth game, which saw the Panthers' season end with a 17-25 loss.

"We fought hard and definitely played with heart," commented Patterson, "but we made some errors at critical points in the fourth game and Williams took advantage of those opportunities."

While the Panthers certainly felt that there was room for improvement in the game that they played, they were quick to give credit to the Williams offense that was able to lead the Ephs to a NESCAC title the next day.

"They were passing well and got their offense going right away, and that put us immediately on the defensive," said coach Raunecker. "We just couldn't seem to stop their offense enough to balance the score. Williams is a tough team to block and so we didn't have much success there despite having the two leading blockers in the conference in our starting lineup with Whitney Bean and Elissa Goeke."

This game was a big blow for Patterson, Kate Heath '09, Olivia Minkhorst '09, and Josie Keller '09, all of whom are graduating this year.

"For the seniors, it was an emotional ending to a great season," said Patterson. "I think this season was the beginning of a very successful team. It will be exciting to watch this team progress over the next few years. Beating Williams was not in the cards for my career but I would bet that this team will get revenge on the Ephs before too long."

Through the ups and downs, the players learned a lot from each other. In particular, many of the players say that the strong leadership displayed from the senior class has served to inspire them for the future.

"It will be hard to replace our four seniors: Lindsay, Olivia, Kate and Josie," added Bloch. "Throughout their careers, they've contributed tremendously to this team and the program, both on and off the court. We'll miss their leadership, skill and positive energy."