MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – After a first set defeat, the No. 12 Wesleyan volleyball team rebounded with wins in three consecutive sets to take a 3-1 (22-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-19) victory over Williams on Friday night from Silloway Gymnasium. In front of yet another packed crowd, the Cardinals (13-1, 5-0 NESCAC) are now winners of four straight, continue their unbeaten start to the NESCAC slate and have won seven consecutive matches against the Ephs (7-4, 4-2 NESCAC).
 
Wesleyan grew into the match, improving in each set to finish the match with a .213 attack percentage compared to just .090 for Williams. As a team, Wesleyan committed just 20 attack errors while Williams was forced into 32. In the final three sets combined, the Cardinals totaled just 12 errors compared to 27 for the Ephs.
 
Sophia Lindus '26 had her best match as a Cardinal, matching her season-high with 19 kills in 40 attempts (.400 attack percentage) while adding 18 digs (one off her career-high) for her third double-double of the season. Kathryn Morton '24 added 10 kills against just one error for a .429 attack percentage. Mariko Tanaka '24 went for seven kills and a career-high eight blocks (three solo).
 
Defensively, Jenna Otola '22 registered a team-leading 19 while Lindus added 18 and Grace Dennis '23 had a career-high 15 for the Cardinals. Dennis also added 39 assists to go along with two kills. Lila Sayre '25 came up with a career-high five blocks while adding six kills. The matchup going in was a tough one, facing the NESCAC leader in points in Marit Hoyem, but the Cardinals forced Hoyem into one of her worst offensive matches of the season as she finished with six kills against eight errors in 26 attempts for a -.077 attack percentage. Christina Conforti also had a negative attack percentage (-.111) in 36 attempts.
 
Williams led for much of the early going in the first set, holding a four-point lead at 10-6 before a 7-1 Wesleyan run gave the Cardinals a 13-11 lead. After trading 3-0 runs, Wesleyan continued to push forward and held their biggest lead of the opening set at 20-16 after a Tanaka solo block. But Kiley Wallace led the Ephs on a critical 5-0 service run that included two aces, making it a 21-20 game, before ultimately carrying that momentum to a 25-22 first set win.
 
It was Wesleyan who led for much of the opening stages at the start of the second set, holding a four-point lead on two occasions. After the Ephs cut the deficit to three at 15-12, that was the closest Williams would get for the remainder of the second set as the Cardinals went on a 7-2 run that finished off a 25-16 victory to even the set score line at 1-1.
 
Williams was the aggressor early, leading 9-5 before an epic 12-0 Wesleyan run all but put the third set to bed. Attack errors cost the Ephs as Williams committed five in the 12-point Cardinal spurt. Williams cut the margin to six on a couple occasions and trailed by five late but the damage had been done and Wesleyan's 25-19 third set win made it 2-1 in favor of the Cardinals.
 
A back-and-forth start to the third set suddenly swung in Wesleyan's favor as Sayre generated back-to-back kills before contributing with Tanaka on a block for a mini 4-0 run that made it 13-10 Wesleyan. That Sayre-inspired run nudged the Cardinals in front and a 6-0 spurt followed to put the score out of reach for the Ephs as the match ended with a 25-19 fourth set win for Wesleyan.
 
The Cardinals look to carry this momentum into a big Saturday afternoon match against Amherst at 2 PM from Silloway Gymnasium as the Little Three title is on the line. With a win, Wesleyan would reclaim the Little Three title as the Mammoths won the Championship in 2021.