Volleyball captures classic

Author: Nicole Lam

This weekend, the volleyball team turned in an impressive showing in South Hadley, Mass., winning all three of their games at the Hall of Fame Classic. After defeating the hosts from Mount Holyoke College 3-0 on Oct. 24, the Panthers recorded consecutive 3-0 victories against Wheaton and Gordon on Saturday Oct. 25. As has been their trademark all season, both offense and defense performed powerfully. At the end of the tournament, co-captain Lindsay Patterson '08.5 was awarded M.V.P. honors for her role in helping Middlebury capture the Silver bracket in the tournament.

Middlebury's victory relied heavily on the team's cohesiveness, a trait that has developed into a real strength both offensively and defensively.

"The offense and defense were working together and communicating to put up strong

blocks and paired perfect passes with kills," said Josie Keller '09.

The Middlebury serving game was also effective, often putting opponents in difficult situations.

"We served particularly well, which put the other teams in trouble passing," said Patterson.

Mallory White '10 was the team's strongest server on day one, recording three aces during the contest with Mt. Holyoke, but as has been the squad's trademark all year, the Panthers received a balanced effort across the board. In the Holyoke game alone three Panthers, Jane Handel '12, Caroline Cordle '12 and Patterson recorded more than six kills, and Olivia Minkhorst '09 and Patterson both reached double digits in the dig column.

For this weekend, the team's aggressive serves, blocks, passes and kills successfully bolstered the team's confidence. The fact that both the offense and defense were clicking simultaneously allowed the Panthers to control the speed of the game.

"It makes a big difference when offense and defense are connecting because it speeds up the game and makes it a lot more competitive," said Whitney Cromwell '10. "When our passing is on, we can run our offense and put the ball away."

Coach Sarah Raunecker realizes that with her most talented team in recent memory, sometimes simplifying things is the easiest way to find results.

"We didn't try to do anything different or special," she said. "We just went with the goal of playing our game, and being very sharp and not making mistakes. We were aggressive and served well all weekend."

Her players agreed with this sentiment, citing their service game in particular.

"We did a great job of forcing the other teams out of system with aggressive serving," said Cromwell, "which turned into better passing and some great offensive plays as well."

After this rewarding weekend, everything is looking up for the upcoming NESCAC quad at Colby and beyond.

"Our goal was to go undefeated, and we did," concluded Coach Raunecker. " Now we want to go undefeated the rest of the way, where we will face tougher competition, but we still feel good about our chances!"

- Additional reporting by

Peter Baumann