The volleyball team (7-3, 4-1 NESCAC) faced Bowdoin (5-6, 2-3 NESCAC) on Saturday to round out a weekend of NESCAC play. The Ephs came away with a three-set victory over the Polar Bears.

The Ephs got off to a fast start in the first set, racing out to early leads of 7-1 and 11-3. Marit Hoyem ’24 shone early on, with three kills and three blocks in just the first 10 points. Williams continued its momentum to build up a double-digit lead, with back-to-back service aces from Lauren Kauppila ’24, expanding the lead to 18-7 for the Ephs. Bowdoin surged towards the end of the set to narrow the lead somewhat, but a smart tip kill from Anna Tosolini ’23 finished off the first set 25-16 for Williams.

[Editor’s note: Hoyem is a sports editor on the Record and was not involved in the writing or editing of this piece.]

To start off the second set, Bowdoin used the momentum from the end of the previous set to jump out to an early 9-4 lead, forcing the Ephs to take a timeout to slow the Bears down. Although the Ephs brought the game to within two points, the Bears surged again to take a 16-10 lead, pressuring the Ephs into taking another timeout.

The Ephs came out on a roll, winning six of the next seven points, shrinking the Bears’ lead to 17-16 and making the Bears call a timeout of their own. The Ephs continued the barrage, taking the lead at 20- 18 and forcing the Bears to call another timeout. With the game later deadlocked at 21-21, the Ephs won the next four points, highlighted by three kills from Tosolini, to claim the set 25-21.

The third set was back-and-forth in the early going, but the Ephs were able to separate midway through the set, going on an 8-2 run to build up a 20-12 lead. The Bears took a timeout to shut down the Ephs’ momentum, winning five of the next seven points and narrowing their deficit to five points at 22-17. The Ephs surged at the end, however, and Celia Adams ’24 recorded her sixth kill of the set on match point to win the set 25-18 for Williams.

According to Head Coach of Women’s Volleyball Christi Kelsey, the win came on the heels of a weekend of hard work. “We had a really good film session and walkthrough [this morning], and I think we learned a lot last night, even though [yesterday’s game] was a 3-0 win against [Connecticut College],” she said. We still had some things that we wanted to do better. It was great energy when we did our serve-and-pass today… They came out from the start that way, and this was our best match to date for executing on the little things. I’m really proud of how they did that point-to-point and consistently over three sets, which was nice.”

The win felt especially triumphant on their senior weekend, Kelsey said. “Bowdoin is a great team — they’re gonna be in the mix as we go through this year for NES- CAC, but overall I’m really proud of our team,” she said. “Especially on senior weekend, it’s nice to get a win for our six seniors.”

The Ephs will be back in action against Wesleyan in Middletown, Conn. The volleyball team is now 4-1 in the NESCAC and 7-3 for the season.