MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – For the first time in program history, the NESCAC Tournament will be played in Silloway Gymnasium. Needing a win on the final day of the regular season to secure the top seed, the No. 13 nationally-ranked Wesleyan volleyball team took care of business in a convincing 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-23, 25-13) of Hamilton on Saturday from Silloway. Wesleyan completes a 21-2 regular season (9-1 NESCAC) while the Continentals finish their season at 8-11 overall (3-7 NESCAC).
After hitting just .167 as a team last night in a 3-0 win over Middlebury, the Wesleyan offense was firing on all cylinders with a .371 attack percentage, landing 46 kills as a team. Sophia LIndus '26 led the charge with 15 kills and 10 digs for her seventh double-double this season, hitting .419 for the match.
Bella Ahearn '23 followed with 11 kills against just two errors in 20 attempts for a .450 percentage.
Sophia Lindus '26 rising up for one of her match-high 15 kills
Kathryn Morton '24 totaled eight kills with four blocks while the middle hit a match-high .467.
Michelle Jorba '25 finished with seven kills in 16 attempts to go along with four blocks while
Bianca Gonya '25 added four kills and four blocks for the Cardinals.
Playing libero for the first time this season,
Grace Bell '23 led the team with 13 digs to go along with two service aces.
Grace Dennis '23 played well throughout, totaling 30 assists with six digs and two blocks.
Grace Bell '23 played libero for the Cardinals and tallied a match-high 13 digs
Hamilton finished the match with 28 kills but the Cardinals forced 20 attack errors as the Continentals hit just .081 in this one. Summer McClintic and Kate Carman landed seven kills each. Melissa Morelli ran the team's offense with 23 assists to go along with five service aces.
In the first set, Wesleyan ran out to a six-point lead with a service run from Morton. Kills from Ahearn and Lindus, followed by another service run from
Jenna Otaola '22 swelled the Wesleyan advantage. Even with a late 4-0 Hamilton run, the Cardinals' 12-point lead was far too wide a margin to overcome as Wesleyan won the opening set on an ace from
Bianca Ortiz '24.
Early in the second set, Hamilton bounced back and was able to take a 10-6 lead following six unanswered points off the serve of Morelli. A Morton kill snuffed out the Hamilton run and kickstarted what turned into an 8-0 Wesleyan run as the Cardinals overcame a four-point deficit to then lead 14-10. The Cardinals kept their lead until 22-16 when the Continentals engineered another late run, this time a 5-0 swing that cut the deficit to just one. It was again just a one-point Wesleyan lead at 24-23 as the Continentals staved off two set points, but not a third as Ahearn landed a kill to win it for the Cardinals.
Bella Ahearn '23 celebrates one of her 11 kills on the match
In the final set of the match, Wesleyan started strong with a 4-0 run from Ortiz's serve. Back-to-back kills from Morton made it 14-6 Cardinals while an attack error from Hamilton made it 22-8 in favor of Wesleyan. Much like the first set, Hamilton rattled off four unanswered points but it was too much to overcome as the match ended on a Jorba kill.
Wesleyan now shifts their focus to the postseason which begins with quarterfinal action at 5 PM on Friday from Silloway Gymnasium. The Cardinals play host to the eight-seed Colby, who Wesleyan beat 3-1 (25-18, 17-25, 25-15, 25-18) in the regular season at Waterville back on September 30. This will be the third time the two sides have met in the NESCAC Tournament and the first since 2005.
