BRUNSWICK, Me. – For the fourth straight season, the Wesleyan volleyball team has advanced in the NESCAC quarterfinal round as the second-seeded Cardinals swept the seventh-seed Conn. College, 3-0, on Friday night in a match played at Bowdoin. Wesleyan (16-5) moves on to the semifinals where they take on #3 Tufts (18-4).

Maddie Kurke '22 took on a starring role, posting a game-high and postseason career-high 16 kills. The senior outside hitter was efficient, needing only 32 total attacks to rack up 16 kills (.406 attack percentage). In her first game back from injury, setter Grace Dennis '23 showed no signs of rust as she racked up 38 assists, a career-high in a three-set match for the junior. Kate Long '24 was on fire from the outside, putting up nine kills against just one error in 13 total attacks for a .615 attack percentage. The back row trio of Jenna Otaola '22 (18 digs), Grace Bell '23 (13 digs) and Bianca Ortiz '24 (13 digs) also shined, combining for 44 of the Cardinals' 69 digs in the sweep.
 
HIGHLIGHTS:

• Bell engineered a 6-0 scoring run in the first set, putting up two aces to help the Cardinals build an 8-3 early lead. The Camels then bounced back with a 9-1 run and led 15-12 more than midway through the set. After watching their five-point lead disappear, another defensive specialist service run, this time off the serve of Ortiz, saw Wesleyan retake a two-point advantage. The set was still anyone's game as Wesleyan led 21-20 late, but a Brina Kuslak '22 block jumpstarted a set-deciding 4-0 run that featured back-to-back Bella Ahearn '23 kills and Wesleyan claimed a 25-20 first set win.
• The second set was much more one-sided as Wesleyan ran off nine unanswered points behind the serve of Mariko Tanaka '24. Going up 9-1, Wesleyan again saw the Camels fight back, lowering the deficit to as few as four but the early run proved too much to overcome in a 25-12 second set Cardinal win.
• A back-and-forth third set saw neither side lead by more than three up until when the score was tied 15-15. Wesleyan called timeout after the Camels tied up the score and the Cardinals responded with an immediate 6-0 run to build a 21-15 lead. Kurke jumpstarted the run with three straight kills and she capped the scoring spree with another kill that made it 21-15 Wesleyan. Kurke started another 3-0 run with her 16^th kill of the night as the Cardinals had match point at 24-16. Conn. College staved off four match points before an attack error gave Wesleyan the match-sealing 25-20 third set win. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Wesleyan hit .255 as a team and put up kill totals of 15 (1^st set), 13 (2^nd set) and 14 (3^rd set) each set
• The .255 attack percentage is the highest for Wesleyan since hitting .278 at Williams on Oct. 15 (six matches ago)
• Bell was a weapon from the service line, putting up a career-high five service aces
• As a team, Wesleyan posted a season-high 10 service aces as a team
• The Camels struggled on offense, as no one on the team hit higher than .150 for the match as the Wesleyan back row frustrated the Conn. College hitters all night
• Christina Leduc led the way for Conn. College with five kills to go along with 13 digs

UP NEXT:
Wesleyan takes on Tufts in a rematch of an epic regular season from Sept. 18 that saw the Cardinals defeat the Jumbos in five sets. After dropping a lengthy fourth set 34-32 to Tufts in that match, Wesleyan bounced back with a 15-13 fifth set triumph to take the match in Medford.